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PRINCETON   .   NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

Howard  R.    Burdeau 

BV   3797    .J85   S42    1886 
Jones,   Sam  P.    1847-1906 
Sermons  by  Rev.    Sam.   P. 
Jones 


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BY 

EEY.  SAM.  P.  JONES, 

AS   STENOGRAPIIICALLY   REPORTED,    AND 

DELITERED  IN  ST.  LOUIS,  CINCHSTNATI,  CHICAGO, 

BALTIMORE,  ATLANTA,  NASHTILLE, 

WACO  AND  OTHER  CITIES ; 

WITH    A 

HISTORY   OF  HIS  LIFE, 

BY 

THEODORE  M.  SMITH,  ESQ., 

Member  of  the  Georgia  Bar,  His  Intimate,  Life-long  Friend, 

OF  Oartersville,  G-a.  (Mr.  Jones'  Home). 


WITH  SEEMONS  BY  SAM.  SMALL,  ESQ.  ('^OLD  SI./ 

Formerly  of  Atlanta  ^^  Constitution") ,  Sain.  Jones'  Convert 

and  Companion  in  His  Labors, 


Jllu^tf^ated  ^ 

BY  OVER  FIFTY  CHABAGTEU  SKETCHES, 
WITH  P0BTBAIT8. 


pitiladp:lpiiia  and  st.  louts: 
SCAMMELL  &  COMPANY,  rUBLLSlIEliS. 

1887. 


Copyright  1886, 

By  H.  B.   SCAMMELL. 

All  Rights  Reserved. 


ffUBLISHERS'  f REFACD. 


"R|ro  introduction  or  explanation  would  properly  be  needed 
J'^  to  any  such  painstaking,  accurate  and  neat  publication 
of  Eev.  Mr.  Jones'  utterances  as  this  volume  plainly  is;  no 
introduction,  because,  without  it,  his  fame  as  a  phenomen- 
ally successful  revivalist  is  rapidly  widening;  no  explana- 
tion, were  it  not  that  the  managers  of  sectarian  publishing 
societies,  with  too  obvious  self-interest,  often  undertake  to 
denounce  any  other  book-making  that  conflicts  with  a  de- 
sired monopoly.  The  bringing  out  of  a  better  and  fuller 
edition  than  theirs  on  any  subject  they  regard  as  an  alarming 
crime;  the  greater  the  superiority,  of  course  the  more  vio- 
lent the  protest — and,  let  us  add,  the  more  puerile  and  ridic- 
ulous. With  utter  disregard  of  any  known  rule  of  law  or 
equity,  of  morals  or  religion,  they  bellow,  "Copyright! 
Copyright!''  ''Eobbery!  Eobbery!''  And  lest  their  mo- 
tives be  too  readily  apparent,  they  put  the  words  into  the 
mouth  of  another,  too  busy  with  his  great  labors  to  carefully 
and  properly  analyze  the  true  legal  and  moral  aspects  of  the 
matter  or  to  fully  consider  whether  such  talk  may  not  be 
worse  than  mere  vaporing;  {.  e.,  unchristian. 

Sam  Jones'  remarkable  and  inimitable  sermons  have  now 
been  preached,  somewhat  in  the  same  form,  but  with  inter- 
esting variations  that  evince  the  fertility  of  his  resources,  in 
twenty  to  twenty-five  different  States  of  the  Union.  The  at- 
tention attracted  by  them  has  been  so  great,  that  even  in 
every  small  city  repeated  attempts  have  been  made  by  the 
local  newspapers  to  report  them,  and  thus  they  have,  over 
and  over  again,  though  more  or  less  curtailed,  been  freely 
given  to  the  world.  The  poj^ular  quality  of  the  sermons  hav- 


vi  Publishers'  Preface, 

ing  early  been  recognized  in  these  smaller  cities  which  Mr. 
Jones  first  visited,  several  cheap  pamphlet  editions  were 
produced,  the  sermons  being  mostly  copied  from  the  abbrev- 
iated reports  of  the  newspapers  in  those  cities.  But  it  was 
not  until  Mr.  Jones  reached  the  large  metropolitan  city  of 
St.  Louis,  with  its  half-million  inhabitants,  where  was  pub- 
lished that  great  and  enterprising  newspaper.  The  Globe- 
Democraty  with  its  complete  staff  of  trained  stenographers, 
reporters  and  editors,  that  the  full  verbatim  reports  which  his 
utterances  deserved,  were  for  the  first  time  daily  printed. 
That  the  remarkable  enterprise  of  this  cosmopolitan  journal 
was  at  once  a  surprise  and  gratification  to  the  revivalist,  is 
seen  by  the  following  extract  from  the  issue  of  Nov.  28th  of 
that  year: 

^'  What  excellent,  full  and  correct  reports  the  Globe-Demo-' 
crat  gives  of  our  meetings.  After  I  have  preached  to  the  peo- 
ple here,  that  paper  takes  it  up  and  spreads  it  all  over  the 
city  and  Western  country.     We  cannot  tell  how  much  God 
will  use  this  agency  for  the  spread  of  the  truth.'' 

The  majority  of  the  sermons,  now  for  the  first  and  only 
time  printed  in  this  volume  without  abridgement,  were  taken 
and  carefully  revised  from  these  excellent  verbatim  reports 
of  the  Globe-Democrat,  which,  as  above  shown,  were  publish- 
ed with  Mr.  Jones'  own  warm  approval  and  indorsement  of 
their  '^  excellence,"  ''fullness"  and  "  correctness"  (quoting 
his  own  language). 

To  the  other  great  metropolitan  journals,  which  subse- 
quently, fully  aroused  to  the  demands  of  the  people — the 
Cincinnati  Commercial  Gazette  and  Chicago  Inter-Ocean — also 
gave  fine  reports,  we  tender  acknowledgments. 

An  illustrated  book  of  sermons  is  certainly  a  novelty.  But 
what  are  the  prime  qualities  of  Sam  Jones'  sermons  ?  With- 
out discussing  this,  it  is  easy  to  see  that,  aside  from  his  in- 
tense earnestness  and  power  of  arousing  the  conscience,  his 
fejiility  of  illustrative  narration — that  faculty  which  is  com- 
mon to  almost  all  great  popular  speakers — is  chief.  If  Sam 
Jones'  illustrations  are  admirable  or  suitable  for  public  de- 


Publishers'  Preface,  vii 

livery  orally  and  by  newspaper  print,  they  are  similarly 
adapted  for  presentation  by  engravings.  And  it  is  therefore 
unnecessary  in  this  case,  any  more  than  in  other  book-making, 
to  ignore  the  universal  modern  popular  demand  for  pictorial 
books.  Bunyan's  "Pilgrim's  Progress,"  with  its  strong 
illustrations  of  Apollyon,  and  the  family  bibles  with  the 
same,  do  not  offend  the  tender  susceptibilities  of  the  most 
refined  readers. 

With  these  remarks,  this,  the  only  adequate  and  full,  the 
only  illustrated  edition  of  Sam  Jones'  sermons,  is  presented 
to  the  public  by 

The  Publishers. 


CONTENTS. 


Publishers'  Preface, 

Contents,     ..... 

List  of  Illustrations, 

Biographical  Sketch  of  Eev.  Sam.  P.  Jones, 

Incidents  in  the  Field,  . 


SEEMON 

I. 

SEEMON 

II. 

SEEMON 

III. 

SEEMON 

IV. 

SEEMON 

V. 

SEEMON 

VI. 

SEEMON 

VII. 

SEEMON 

VIII. 

SEEMON 

IX. 

SEEMON 

X. 

SEEMON 

XI. 

SEEMON 

XII. 

SEEMON 

XIII. 

SEEMON 

XIV. 

SEEMON 

XV. 

SEEMON 

XVI. 

viii 

PAGE, 
V 

viii 

X 

xii 
xviii 
23 

47 
69 

84 


Let  Your  Light  So  Shine, 
Grace  and  Salvation, 
Drawing  the  Lines, 
Perseverance  in  Well-Doing, 
The  Christian's  Princely  Charac- 
ter, ...  102 
What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ,  ,  113 
Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature,  135 
Taking  the  Fort,  .  .  155 
Conscience — Eecord — God,  .  161 
Prisoners  of  Hope  and  Prisoners 

OF  Despair,  .  .  174 

The  Dangers  of  Delay,    .  .     191 

Eighteousness  and  Life  :  Sin  and 

Death,   .  .  .  .210 

Wages  of  Sin  vs.  The  Gift  of 

God,        .  .  .  .226 

Laying  Up  Money,        .  .  244 

All  Things  Working  Together  for 

Good,      .  .  .  .263 

Whosoever  Will,         .  .  277 


Contents, 


IX 


sermo:n' 

XYII. 

SERMON 

XYIII. 

SERMON 

XIX. 

SERMON 

XX. 

SERMON 

XXI. 

SERMON 

XXII. 

SERMON 

XXIII. 

SERMON 

XXIY. 

SERMON 

XXY. 

SERMON 

XXYI. 

SERMON 

XXYII. 

SERMON  XXYIII. 

SERMON 

XXIX. 

SERMON       XXX. 

Sam  Jones^  Sayings, 


PAGE. 

True  Repentance,  .  .  294 

The  Duty  of  Y/atchfulness,  816 

The  Call  and  the  Rejection,  .  336 

The  Prodigal  Son,     .  .  358 

Consecration,       .  .  .  381; 

Sowing  and  Reaping,  .  393 

What  Must  I  Do  to  be  Saved  ?  416 

What  are  You  Waiting  For?  439 

Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support,  461 

Rest  for  the  Weary,  .  481 

A  Christian  Life,  the  Expositor 

OF  Christian  Doctrine,      .  501 

The  Eruit  of  the  Spirit,     .  520 
A  Living  Example,  Sam.  W. 

Small,  Esq.,  .  .  541 

In  Bad  Company,        .  .  556 

570 


iiST  OF  Illustrations. 


Frontispiece  :  Portrait  of  Eev.  Sam.  P.  Jones 

Putting  the  Fodder  Too  High, 

The  Devil  Advertising  Sam  Jones  Free, 

'^EeEP    STILL;    don't    GET    EXCITED !" 

Taking  a  Good  Square  Look  at  Himself, 

^'  Us   FOUR   AND    NO   MORE,'' 

^'  Give  me  something  !  Give  me  something  !"    . 

Modern  Churches'  Fear  of  the  Devil, 

An  Unwelcome  Guest,      .... 

The  Mortgaged  JSTose, 

Sam  Jones'  Favorite  Implement, 

Praying  the  Jjord  to  Change  Sam  Jones, 

The  Bible  Straight-Edge  Test, 

"  Colonels  and  Judges  and  Majors  who  grace  our 

curb-stones  and  saloons, 
"Your  father  and  the  devil  are  together  in  that 
Bob  Ingersoll's  Anxious  Enquirer, 
Burning  the  Bridge  Behind  Him,   . 
The  Great  Epoch  in  Sam  Jones'  Life, 
Sister  Martha  and  Mary  and  the  Major, 
The  Preacher  and  His  Church  Load, 
Sam  Jones'  Ideal  Circus  Crowd, 
''  i  want  mamma  !"  .  .  . 

The  Wife's  Constancy, 
The  Soul's  Longing  for  Christ, 
"The  room  is  full  of  serpents," 
A  Eogers  Engine — Sam  Jones'  Beau  Ideal  of  a  Live 

Christian  Man, 
The  Millionaire  Beggar's  Dying  Eequest, 
The  Fallen  Christian  Knight, 
A  Business  in  Which  a  Man  Cannot  Pray,    . 
"Honey,  all  the  old  sinners  takes  the  brimstone 

with  'em,"    ..... 

A. 


PAGE. 

2 

25 
28 
29 
32 
34 
35 
36 
40 
41 
42 
45 
49 

51 

"  52 

55 

58 

82 

91 

95 

97 

124 

124 

124 

127 

131 
136 
151 
185 

199 


Illustrations.  xi 

PAGE. 

"Could  not  find  the  hand  of  God,"         .             .  235 

Rev.  Sam.  P.  Jones'  Home,  Cartersville,  Ga.,  .  244 
"  Sally  with  her  new  teeth  and  the  children  in 

THEIR  fine  turnout,"     ....  248 

Keeping  Up  with  the  Fashion,              .             .  .     255 

The  Only  Way  Some  People  can  be  Convicted,    .  270 

The  Finger,  the  Ant,  and  the  Crumb,     .             .  .     275 

"Water!  Water!  We  have  found  it!  "    .             .  287 

*'No,  sir!  I  don't  know  one  sort  from  another,"  298 
*'The  dog  runs  out  in  the  street  before  he  knows 

it,"  .  .  .  .  .  .323 

*' Foolish  thing,  don't  burn  yourself  to  death,"  .     348 

"Off  these  premises  forever!"  .  .  .  355 
Sam  Jones'  New  Version  of  the  Parable  of  the 

Prodigal  Son,  .  .  .  .  .378 
* '  How  would  you  have  it  more  economical  than 

THAT?"       ......  383 

"An  old  ox  in  a  hot,  dry  lane,"        .             .             .  385 

One  Who  Had  Been  Unloaded  On,              .             .  405 

"  I  am  putting  my  tracks  in  your  tracks,'*  .         .    .  408 

"Who!  Who!  Who!  "  The  Old  Maid  and  the  Owl,  44 G 

Waiting  to  Sweat,          .....  449 

The  Gospel  Wagon-Shop,      ....  459 

Old  John  and  the  Children,     ....  462 

"Boss,  I  AM  going  to  develop  your  clothes,"  .  491 
A  Practical  Sermon,      .             .             .             .             .513 

Home  Entertainment  for  Husbands,             .             .  537 

Portrait  of  Sam.  W.  Small,  Esq.,        .             .             .  540 

A  Kicking  Daddy's  Welcome  to  the  Fast  Young  Man,  565 


'lOGR/iPHiCAL  Sketch  of  Rev. 

S/IM.  ff.  lONES. 


11)EV.  Samuel  Porter  Jones,  the  great  Georgia  evangelist, 
J^  is  undoubtedly  the  most  unique  and  interesting  figure 
now  before  the  Americaii  public.  As  an  evangelist  he  is 
widely  known.  The  very  extent  of  his  renown  as  a  preach- 
er invests  him  with  an  interest  that  demands  a  better  and 
more  accurate  account  of  himself,  his  ancestry,  early  life 
and  career,  before  he  leaped  into  fame  as  suddenly  as  the 
first  lightning  flash  that  heralds  the  coming  storm. 

He  was  born  in  Chambers  County,  Alabama,  October  16th, 
1847.  He  comes  of  a  race  of  preachers.  His  grandfather 
has  preached  sixty  years.  Robert  L.  Edwards,  Mr.  Jones' 
grandmother's  grandfather,  was  one  of  the  preachers  of 
Methodism  in  the  early  years  of  this  century,  and  is  still  re- 
membered as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and  gifted  preach- 
ers that  Georgia  has  produced. 

Of  this  generation,  Mr,  Jones  has  four  uncles  and  two 
brothers  in  the  ministry.  Captain  John  J.  Jones,  his  father, 
was  a  lawyer  of  note,  a  man  of  fine  social  qualities  and  at- 
tractive person.  He  served  through  the  war  with  distinc- 
tion, and  came  home  to  die  of  consumption.  Captain  Jones' 
first  wife,  the  mother  of  Sam,  was  a  Miss  Porter  of  Georgia, 
and  a  woman  of  marked  personality,  strong  character,  fine 
intelligence  and  deep  piety.  From  her  the  evangelist  de- 
rived his  own  peculiar  physique  and  individuality  of  char- 
acter, though  she  died  before  he  was  sufficiently  matured  to 
bave  felt  any  other  permanent  impression  from  her  influ- 
ence than  a  tender  memory  of  her  afl'ection  for  him. 
3di 


Biographical  Sketch  of  Eev,  Sam,  P.  Jones.  xiii 

An  incident  of  his  childhood  illustrates  the  manner  of  her 
interest  in  him,  and  now,  after  thirty  years  have  gone,  looks 
almost  prophetic.  He  was  going  to  school,  and  she  had 
taught  him  a  parody  on  the  humorous  lines  beginning, 
*'^YouM  scarce  expect  one  of  my  age,"  which  he  was  to  speak 
at  a  public  exhibition.  He  was  only  six  years  old,  and  when 
his  time  came  to  speak  was  asleep  in  his  mother's  lap.  He 
was  awakened  and  carried  in  his  teacher's  arms,  to  stand  up- 
on a  table  on  the  stage.  Here,  on  his  first  forum,  in  his  first 
speech,  his  childish  voice  repeated  the  closing  words  of  a 
little  parody  his  fond  mother  had  taught  him  ; 

"  In  thunder  peals,  and  *  Thornton  tones, 
«  The  world  shall  hear  from  Samuel  Jones ; " 
that  at  this  distant  day  seems  little  short  of  inspiration. 
In  another  year  she  was  dead,  and  his  father  removed  to 
Cartersville,  Ga.  He  did  not  attend  school  regularly 
during  boyhood,  but  worked  on  a  farm  and  went  to  school 
at  intervals  on  account  of  his  poor  health.  At  nineteen  he 
quit  going  to  school  altogether  and  never  attended  a  col- 
lege, the  war  interfering  with  the  education  which  was  in- 
tended to  prepare  him  for  the  legal  profession.  After  the 
war  he  renewed  preparations  for  college,  but  his  health  en- 
tirely failed,  he  being  a  victim  of  dyspepsia  almost  from  his 
cradle.  It  had  now  fastened  upon  him  in  its  most  terrible 
form,  and,  under  advice,  he  sought  relief  in  the  moderate 
use  of  intoxicating  drinks.  Temporary  relief  followed,  but 
there  also  ensued  the  more  terrible  bondage  of  habitual 
drunkenness,  and  he  sank  into  the  lowest  depths  of  dis- 
sipation. 

He  still  pursued  the  law,  and  at  twenty-one  was  admitted 
to  the  bar,  and  began  to  practice  with  fine  promise.  Soon 
after,  he  went  to  Dallas,  Paulding  County,  G-a.,  continuing 
in  the  law,  but  practicing  principally  at  the  bar  of  the  vil- 
lage saloon. 

In  a  few  months  he  again  removed,  going  to  Cherokee 
County,  Alabama,  where  he  taught  school. 
*Thomion  was  a  noted  orator  of  the  day. 


xiv  Biographical  Sketch  of  Bev.  Sam.  P.  Jones, 

His  habits  of  dissipation  followed  him;  he  grew  more  and 
more  intemperate  all  the  while,  and  never  recovered  him- 
self in  the  least  until  God  laid  his  hand  upon  him  and  sent 
him  forth  to  preach. 

In  1869  he  married  Miss  Laura  McElwain  in  Henry  Coun- 
ty, Ky.,  and  returned  to  Cartersville.  Here  he  led  a  dissi- 
pated and  almost  vagrant  life,  nearly  breaking  the  heart  of 
his  brave  young  wife,  and  embittering  the  last  days  of  his 
father's  life,  worn  down  in  a  vain  struggle  with  consumption. 
Captain  Jones  was  dying.  He  gathered  his  family  about 
him  and  sent  for  Sam.  He  gave  each  one  of  the  sorrowing 
group  his  last  farewell,  and  turned  sadly  to  Sam.  In  the  re- 
proachful but  tender  words  of  a  dying  father,  he  told  the 
reprobate  that  he  had  given  him  more  trouble  than  all  of  his 
children.  He  exhorted  him  with  his  last  breath  to  give  his 
heart  to  God  and  meet  him  in  heaven.  The  prodigal  son  fell 
prostrate  at  his  father's  death-bed,  exclaiming,  "I'll  quit! 
I'll  quit!  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner!"  His  reforma- 
tion was  complete  from  that  moment,  and  another  Paul  was 
given  to  the  world. 

He  applied  at  once  for  a  license  to  preach,  taking  counsel 
of  no  one,  though  all  his  family  and  friends  strenuously  op- 
posed the  step.  His  wife  objected  bitterly,  and  threatened 
to  leave  him  forever  if  he  entered  the  ministry.  His  previ- 
ous life,  present  circumstances — he  was  heavily  in  debt  and 
owned  nothing — friends,  kindred,  even  the  wife  of  his  bos- 
om, all  contributed  to  the  pressure  upon  him  to  break  his  re- 
solve; but  through  it  all  he  heard  the  voice  of  the  Master, 
"  Deny  thyself;  follow  Me,"  and  fearlessly  he  obeyed  the 
call. 

He  was  just  twenty-five  when  he  went  to  Atlanta,  Ga.,  in 
1872,  to  the  meeting  of  thelN'orth  Georgia  Conference  of  the 
M.  E.  Church  South,  which  received  him  on  trial.  His  first 
appointment  was  the  Van  Wert  Circuit,  in  Bartow  and  Polk 
Counties.  It  was  one  of  the  poorest  Circuits  in  the  Confer- 
ence, with  a  mere  pittance  for  a  living.  His  brethren  gave 
him.  but  a  "crumb  from  the  Master's  table."     But  nothing 


Biographical  Sketch  of  Rev.  Sam.  P.  Jones,  xv 

could  daunt  him.     He  preached  on  this  Circuit  three  years, 
the  people  petitioning  Conference  for  his  return  each  year. 

In  1876,  he  was  sent  to  DeSoto  Circuit,  in  Floyd  County, 
where  he  preached  two  years. 

All  the  while,  the  young  preacher  was  developing  those 
peculiar  traits  that  make  him  what  he  is — the  most  unique, 
sensational,  and  effective  preacher  in  America  to-day. 
His  peculiarities  offended  many.  His  bitter,  personal  de- 
nunciations of  vice  and  sin,  particularly  of  the  hypocritical 
conduct  of  his  own  Church  members,  brought  down  their 
wrath  upon  him.  It  is  related  that  the  stewards  of  his  Church 
came  to  him  officially  and  urged  him  to  change  his  methods, 
or  at  least  temper  his  scathing  rebukes,  for  they  feared  his 
family  would  starve,  because  the  people  would  not  pay  such 
a  preacher.  He  paid  no  heed  to  their  remonstrance,  reply- 
ing that  he  was  preaching  his  convictions  and  would  make 
DO  compromise.  He  now  began  to  conduct  revival  meetings, 
and  the  timid  stewards  were  astonished  at  the  results.  Every 
meeting  was  a  Pentecost,  and  the  proof  of  divine  vindica- 
tion of  the  fearless  preacher  was  cumulative. 

The  following  year  he  was  sent  to  Newborn  Circuit,  !N'ew- 
ton  County.  This  year  was  devoted  to  evangelizing  in  and 
around  his  Circuit.  All  the  meetings  were  attended  with 
phenomenal  success.  The  following  year,  1879,  found  him 
on  another  Circuit,  Monticello,  in  Jasper  County.  But  the 
calls  for  him  all  over  the  State  were  so  numerous,  and  his 
preaching  everywhere  so  signally  successful,  that  he  was  not 
assigned  to  regular  pastoral  work  again. 

In  1880,  he  was  appointed  to  the  agency  of  the  ITorth 
Georgia  Conference  Orphans^  Home,  located  near  Atlanta. 
He  found  this  institution  heavily  in  debt,  and  in  a  deplora- 
ble condition  generally.  The  duties  of  his  new  work  afford- 
ed him  ample  opportunity  to  ^'  Do  the  work  of  an  evangel- 
ist.'' He  gave  himself  with  incomparable  zeal  to  this  work^ 
and  at  the  same  time  proved  his  fidelity  to  his  appointed 
duties  by  bringing  the  Home  back  from  the  brink  of  finan- 
cial ruin,  raising  funds  to  erect  new  and  commodious  build- 


xvi  Biographical  Sketch  of  Rev,  Sam.  P.  Jones, 

ings,  and  making  the  institution  a  worthy  object  of  pride  to 
his  Church  and  State  as  well.  For  the  last  five  years  he  has 
worked  incessantly.  It  is  during  this  period  that  he  has  be- 
come a  famous  evangelist,  and  made  his  name  a  household 
word  all  over  the  South  and  West. 

When  he  took  charge  of  the  Orphans'  Home  he  brought 
his  family  to  Cartersville,  and  his  home  has  been  there  ever 
since.  He  declares  his  purpose  to  remain  there  always,  and 
accordingly  has  built  an  elegant  home,  which,  he  says,  is  the 
gift  of  the  women  of  Georgia  to  his  wife.  When  it  was  com- 
pleted he  called  together  his  family  and  friends  and  solemn- 
ly dedicated  the  house,  with  all  its  belongings  and  occupants, 
to  God.  The  Evangelist  loves  this  home;  though  he enjoj^s 
rest  and  comforts  little  enough.  After  his  grand  triumph  in 
Nashville,  last  year,  the  people  of  that  city  offered  him 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  to  make  his  home  with  them. 
It  was  a  great  act  of  self-denial  to  decline  this  munificent 
offer. 

In  his  great  speech  before  the  Georgia  State  Temperance 
Convention  in  Atlanta,  on  the  IQth  of  June,  1885,  speaking 
of  his  love  and  admiration  for  Georgia,  he  alluded  feelingly 
to  this  incident:  ^' I  had  a  great  trial  not  long  ago,"  he  said. 
"I  have  been  a  poor  man  all  my  life;  and  when  friends  in 
Nashville  tendered  me  a  home  and  offered  to  stand  by  me 
and  back  me  up,  it  was  a  great  temptation;  but  I  looked 
down  here  and  saw  my  old  mother,  Georgia.  I  never  loved 
her  so  in  all  my  life  before.  I  said  :  ^  Brethren,  no,  I  can't 
take  it.  Not  that  I  love  you  less,  but  I  love  Georgia  more  !' " 
He  is  just  as  steadfast  in  his  consecration  to  his  work  as  in 
devotion  to  his  home  and  State. 

Just  after  the  Nashville  meetings,  and  many  times  since, 
notably  at  St.  Louis,  he  has  received  proposals  written  and 
in  person,  from  some  of  the  most  successful  managers  in  the 
Union,  to  go  into  the  lecture  field.  Some  of  these  offers 
were  for  a  whole  season  and  ranged  as  high  as  five  hundred 
dollars  a  night  and  expenses.  None  of  them  did  he  enter^ 
tain  for  an  instant;  replying  to  all  as  he  did  when  passing 


Biographical  Sketch  of  Rev,  Sam,  P,  Jones,  xvii 

recently  through  Chattanooga.  He  was  invited  to  stop  over 
and  preach  one  sermon,  the  inducement  oifered  being  two 
hundred  dollars:  ^^  I  am  not  after  money,  but  souls."  At 
the  close  of  one  of  his  grandest  revivals  in  a  large  city,  he 
was  tendered  a  thousand  dollars.  He  said  it  was  too  much, 
and  would  accept  but  half  of  it.  These  instances  are  strict- 
ly true,  and  overwhelmingly  refute  the  charge  that  he  is  after 
the  ''loaves  and  fishes." 

Sam  Jones'  methods  of  conducting  revivals  are,  like  him- 
self, unique  and  original,  and,  like  his  preaching,  practical 
and  incisive.  He  never  "plans"  a  meeting,  but  always 
adapts  what  he  does  to  the  exigencies  of  each  service.  His 
surprising  versatility  and  endless  resource  of  means,  enable 
him  to  supply  with  ready  execution  what  other  revivalists 
carefully  determine  beforehand.  His  humorous  powers  must 
not  be  overlooked  in  judging  what  are  called  his  ''methods." 
His  free  use  of  anecdotes,  jokes  and  humorous  sayings  often 
make  him  appear  to  some  both  irreverent  and  ridiculous. 
In  Nashville,  he  heard  of  strong  objections  made  to  his 
jokes  in  the  pulpit;  and  in  his  next  sermon  he  tpld  the  con- 
gregation to  "  take  those  jokes  home  and  crack  them,  and 
they  would  find  a  hornet  in  every  one."  Just  so  he  often 
wings  some  of  his  keenest  shafts  of  irony  with  a  side-splitting 
joke. 

His  pulpit  manners,  say  the  critics,  lack  dignity  sadly. 
"  Dignity,"  retorts  the  preacher,  ''  is  the  starch  of  a  shroud. 
The  more  dignity  a  fellow  has,  the  nearer  dead  he  is.  I  ex- 
pect to  be  as  dignified  as  any  of  you  when  I  get  into  my 
coffin."  Sam  Jones  never  puts  on  dignity,  nor  does  he  dress 
himself  in  any  other  sham.  He  goes  into  the  pulpit  clothed 
in  the  effective  power  of  his  intense  earnestness,  and  with- 
out pretense  of  the  art  of  oratory,  preaches  at  the  people 
with  all  the  irresistible  eloquence  of  action. 

"Viewed  in  the  light  of  results,  we  must  believe  in  him  for 
his  very  works'  sake — an  argument  he  never  uses. 

Theo.  M.  Smith. 

Cartersville,  Ga.j  February  Wth,  1886. 


Incidents  in  the  Iield. 

tFTER  Mr.  Jones  had  become  known  as  a  revivalist 
throughout  his  own  State  and  adjoining  commonwealths, 
he  made  his  first  appearance  in  a  large  city.  But  we  will  let 
Talmage,  the  Brooklyn  Tabernacle  preacher,  tell  the  story  : 

It  was  during  a  tour  iu  the  West  that  a  friend  spoke  to  me  about  Sam 
Jones,  who  was  then  unknown  to  fame,  though  he  had  already  done  wonder- 
fully etfective  work.  I  went  a  hundred  miles  to  witness  his  methods  and  their 
results,  for  I  was  anxious  to  secure  a  first-rate  evangelist  for  the  ensuing  win- 
ter. It  is  a  Tabernacle  custom,  3'ou  know,  to  try  to  have  an  arousal  annually. 
We  believe  in  revivals,  and  we  endeavor  to  lose  as  little  as  possible  of  what  we 
gain  by  them.    Well,  I  was  captivated  at  once  by  Sam,  and  we  engaged  him. 

Another  account  continues  the  story: 

Talmage  took  hmi  to  Brooklyn,  where  he  preached  a  couple  of  months. 
The  newspapers,  however,  didn't  seem  to  discover  much  in  Jones,  and  didn't 
quote  him  at  all.  He  went  back  South,  and  there  the  newspapers  commenced 
to  find  out  who  he  was,  and  print  extracts  from  his  sermons,  and  it  was  but  a 
short  time  until  he  was  known  all  over  the  country.  While  Jones  was  in 
Brooklyn,  though,  he  didn't  indulge  in  many  of  the  characteristic  utterances 
which  have  sin^-e  made  him  famous.  I  heard  him  preach  several  times,  and 
received  the  impression  that  he  was  an  earnest  Christian  and  indefatigable 
worker,  but  not  an  exceptionally  brilliant  man. 

The  coadjutor  of  Moody  ought  to  know  an  evangelist  on 
hearing  him ;  and  yet  it  was  Ira  D.  Sankey  who  formed  this 
just  quoted  humdrum  estimate  of  the  now  famous  Georgian. 
This  was  in  the  winter  of  1883-4.  From  that  time  onward  we 
find  him  working  in  various  cities  of  the  South.  The  follow- 
ing passage  tells,  in  his  own  inimitable  style,  of  his  success  : 

I  was  in  one  town  eight  days.  There  were  some  700  or  800  conversions,  I 
believe,  in  the  time,  and  some  400  accessions  to  the  churches,  in  a  town  of  some 
4,000  inhabitants.  It  was  the  fourth  night,  I  believe.  Two  brethren  were 
sleeping  in  the  room  where  I  was  to  sleep.  They  slept  out  loud,  which  so  dis- 
turbed me  that  I  could  not  go  to  sleep.  I  said,  "Brethren,  I  ought  to  be 
asleep,  but  you  are  keeping  me  awake.  Will  you  move  my  bed  into  the  par- 
lor?" We  stumbled  onto  our  host  on  his  knees  in  the  parlor.  One  of  the 
brethren  told  me  next  morning,  "Why,  Sam,  Brother  Wisener  was  out  in  the 
hall  on  his  knees  again  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning."  I  looked  my  brother 
in  the  face;  said  I,  "Joe,  listen  ;  God  Almighty  is  going  to  stir  this  town  from 
center  to  circumference.  What!  a  man  on  his  knees  at  twelve  o'clock  mid- 
night in  his  parlor  and  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  in  the  hall !  Mark! 
God  is  going  to  upturn  this  town." 

And  that  is  what  we  want,  so  that  when  you  run  them  out  of  the  parlor  they 
will  pray  in  the  hall  until  daylight. 


Incidents  in  the  Field.  xix 

The  services  conducted  by  him  in  Nashville  may  be  called 
the  first  of  the  series  which  have  given  him  national  fame; 
they  lasted  twenty-one  days,  beginning  on  the  10th,  and 
closing  on  the  20th  of  May,  1885.  A  judgment  of  the  per- 
manence of  Mr.  Jones'  work,  expressed  after  the  lapse  of 
eight  months,  will  be  based  upon  some  solid  ground.  Wo 
clip  the  following  from  an  account  of  a  meeting  in  Cincin- 
nati, held  in  January,  1886: 

At  the  opening  of  the  service  last  night,  Eev.  Dr.  Leftwich,  of  Nashville, 
spoke  for  a  few  minutes.  He  bore  testimony  to  the  character  of  the  work 
done  in  Nashville  through  Brother  Jones  last  spring.  He  knew  how  easy  it 
was  for  people  to  say  that  this  great  religious  excitement  will  soon  pass  away, 
and  the  results  no  longer  be  seen.  He  took  great  pleasure  in  testifying  that 
many  of  the  worst  sinners  in  that  city  before  Brother  Jones'  visit  have  been 
since,  and  are  yet,  among  the  best  Christians  they  have.  In  that  city  many  of 
the  homes  where  the  voice  of  prayer  was  never  heard  now  have  daily  worship. 
The  churches  have  been  quickened  with  a  higher,  purer  and  holier  life,  and 
theater-going,  card-playing  and  drinking  have  been  largely  diminished.  He 
had  never  in  his  history  known  of  a  religious  work  anywhere  that  was  so  deep 
and  thorough  and  permanent  in  its  results.  Mr.  Jones,  he  said,  is  a  subsoiler, 
and  is  planting  the  foundations  deep  for  greater  works  hereafter. 

The  golden  opinions  which  he  had  won  at  Nashville  fol- 
lowed him  everywhere.  In  the  Cartersville  papers  we  find 
it  noticed  that  a  sack  of  corn,  received  at  that  place  from 
Nashville,  had  on  it,  in  bold  black  letters,  the  following: 

We  admire,  more  than  we  can  express,  your  great  man,  Ilev.  Sam.  P.  Jones. 
We  offered  him  a  $10,000  house  if  he  would  come  and  live  iu  our  city,  but  he 
would  not  leave  you. 

Sept.  8  began  a  great  meeting  at  his  own  home,  Carters- 
ville. The  prophet  was  not  without  honor  here  as  else- 
where, for  we  read  in  the  Atlanta  Gonsiitutio7i  that  ^^  The  con- 
gregation was  rocked  like  a  shi])  in  a  storm."  Here  his 
strictures  against  the  liquor  traffic  greatly  enraged  the 
dealers,  and,  on  the  night  of  Sept.  19,  the  floor  of  his  buggy^ 
house  was  blown  out  by  dynamite,  as  a  warning  of  what 
he  might  expect  if  he  continued  in  his  present  course.  It 
failed  to  produce  the  desired  effect,  however,  as  any  one  who 
knew  the  man  might  have  predicted  ;  the  evangelist  did  noa 
even  allude  to  the  circumstance  in  his  sermon  of  the  follow- 
ing day,  and  merely  observed  to  a  friend  who  spoke  of  it, 
that  he  ''would  as  soon  go  to  Heaven  by  the  dynamite  route 
as  by  any  other." 

But  his  course  in  regard  to  liquor-selling  was  not  without 
more  pleasant  results.  He  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
powerful  friends  of  the  prohibition  movement,  which  was 

2 


XX  Incidents  in  the  Fidd. 

convulsing  parts  of  the  South ;  and  we  find  in  the  papers 

the  following,  showing  the  character  of  the  man  in  more 

ways  than  one: 

In  Murfreesboro,  Tenn.,  where  he  had  preached  with  wonderful  success,  the 
grateful  citizens  made  up  and  presented  him  a  purse  of  $800.  Handing  back 
$600  of  it  he  said:  "  Distribute  that  among  the  saloon-keepers  who  have  been 
converted  and  quit  their  business,  that  they  may  have  something  for  their 
families  till  they  find  something  else  to  do  for  their  support." 

After  the  Cartersville  meetings  had  lasted  a  few  days,  the 
manager  of  the  Atlanta  Constitution  found  it  necessary  to 
make  a  change  in  the  reporter  who  wrote  them  up,  and  a 
brilliant  young  man,  who  had  been  connected  with  the 
Constitution  for  some  j^ears,  was  sent  to  take  his  place.  He 
was  known  to  newspaper  readers  as  "Old  Si,"  one  of  the  most 
consummate  masters  of  dialect  writing  in  this  country;  a 
humorist  of  great  ability;  a  poet  of  no  mean  order,  as  his 
elegy  on  A.  H.  Stephens  bears  witness;  a  well-educated 
man,  who  had  been  enabled,  by  the  united  power  of  birth 
and  wealth,  to  enter  the  "■  best  society  ; "  talented,  cultured, 
traveled — but  he  drank  deeply. 

Such  was  the  man  of  thirty-four,  who,  with  his  little  son, 
and  a  quart  bottle  of  whisky,  the  latter  to  supply  a  want 
which  could  not  be  gratified  in  Cartersville,  came  forty- 
eight  miles  to  report  the  sermon  of  the  day. 

The  meeting  was  a  "  bush-arbor"  one,  in  a  grove  where  thousands  had  heard 
Sam  Jones  deliver  his  message  in  his  own  peculiar  way.  Sam  was  on  the  sub- 
ject of  "Conscience,"  that  terribly  deep  and  touchy  thing  when  aroused,  and 
was  firing  heavy  eighty-four  pound  shells,  grape  and  shrapnel,  with  deadly 
effect,  at  sinners  and  saints  all  through  the  grove.  In  the  heat  of  the  engage- 
ment he  happened  to  look  down  below  him  where  the  reporters  were  sitting. 
Small  had  dropped  his  pencil,  and  lost  whole  sentences  which  would  not  appear 
in  the  Co?istitutio7i  next  day.  Jones  watched  him  narrowly  to  see  if  he  would 
take  it  up,  but  he  did  not.  The  shot  and  shells  were  whistling  over  his  head, 
and  when  Jones  looked  again,  Small's  head  was  on  his  arm,  ana  soon  the  head 
was  clear  down  on  the  table.  One  shot,  at  least,  had  struck  him,  and  his  con- 
science was  wounded  and  bleeding  on  the  field,  close  under  the  mouth  of  the 
cannon. 

It  was  on  the  13th  of  September  that  this  sermon  was 
preached;  the  Constitution  of  the  next  day  contains  no  re- 
port of  the  meeting. 

The  rest  of  the  story  will  be  found  in  his  own  sermon,  "A 
Living  Example,''  in  this  volume. 

Many  were  doubtful  of  the  staying  qualities  of  the  man; 

but  said  Sam  Jones,  later: 

The  wise  brethren  walked  up  and  $aid,  "Brother  Sam  Small,  you  had  better 
be  very  particular;  if  your  foot  was  to  happen  to  slip  it  would  be  death  on  you, 


Incidents  in  the  Field.  xxi 

and  you  had  better  be  mighty  particular  now."  "  If  he  falls  down,"  said  I, 
"  he  shall  fall  on  nic;  I  will  hold  him  up  and  stand  by  him  until  I  die  myself." 
And,  thank  God  Almighty,  he  never  fell  on  me.  I  have  never  held  up  a 
pound  for  him ;  but  I  have  got  so  now  I  can  lean  on  him,  and  he  is  helping  to 
hold  me  up. 

The  convert's  first  sermon  was  preached  Sept.  15,  in  At- 
lanta ;  Mr.  Jones  immediately  telegraphed  Mr.  Small  to  join 
him,  and  ^'  The  Two  Sams  "  have  been  co-workers  ever  since. 
From  Cartersville,  the  Georgian  went  to  St.  Joseph,  Mo., 
where  his  sermons  had  the  same  familiar  result.  750  acces- 
sions to  various  churches  were  reported  within  six  weeks 
after  the  close  of  the  meetings. 

A  great  tent  was  erected  to  hold  the  throngs  which  could 
get  into  no  church  or  hall  in  the  city ;  and  it  was  filled  by 
sunrise  meetings  and  mid-day  meetings,  as  well  as  by  even- 
ing gatherings.  He  left  on  the  12th  of  October,  but  not  be- 
fore he  had  accomplished  an  important  and  lasting  work  for 
the  city,  in  more  than  one  direction ;  his  stirring  appeal  in 
behalf  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  having  so  wrought  upon  the  people, 
that  in  less  than  forty  minutes  the  sum  of  $35,000  was  sub- 
scribed for  a  new  building  for  the  Association.  Subsequent 
subscriptions  increased  this  to  $45,000.  The  remarkable 
fact  is,  that  the  members  and  friends  of  the  Association  had 
been  trying  for  years  to  accomplish  this  task  of  an  hour. 

In  the  latter  part  of  October,  and  the  first  few  days  of 
November,  the  evangelist  was  at  Birmingham,  Alabama. 
Here,  as  elsewhere,  he  met  with  opposition,  by  reason  of  the 
simple,  forcible,  pungent,  every-day  language  in  which  he 
expressed  himself.     An  Episcopal  clergyman  said  to  him  : 

I  turned  up  my  nose  and  walked  out  of  your  meeting,  and  told  my  wife 
and  cliildren  they  could  not  go  where  there  was  such  slang  going  on." 
"  But,"  he  said,  "  then  the  good  tSpirit  of  God  touched  my  heart  and  wouldn't 
let  me  sleep  the  whole  night,  and  the  next  morning  I  wont  to  my  Bible  and 
found  every  utterance  of  Sam  Jones'  there. 

Nov.  22,  1885,  he  began  his  work  at  St.  Louis,  the  first  of 
the  largest  class  of  cities  in  which  he  had  preached  since  his 
experience  in  the  Brookl3^n  Tabernacle.  He  was  welcomed 
to  the  work  by  some  of  the  leading  divines  of  the  city,  and 
his  audiences  increased  so  rapidly  that  the  great  new  Music 
Hall  had  to  be  occupied.  But  although  his  welcome  at  the 
hands  of  evangelical  Protestants  was  cordial,  there  was 
one  class  of  the  community  to  whom  his  ministry  was  less 
acceptable.  The  Eoman  Catholic  organ,  The  Western  Watch- 
man^  remarked  in  its  issue  of  Nov.  28  : 


xxii  Incidents  in  the  Field, 

Sam  Jones,  the  unparsable  revivalist,  tells  us  he  means  to  give  this  old  town 
a  shaking  up.  This  old  town  has  been  the  bete  now  of  all  the  evangelists. 
They  may  abuse  her  to  their  heart's  content,  but  she  refuses  to  be  "  shaken." 
St.  Louis  has  been  the  mausoleum  of  all  the  evangelical  mountebanks  who 
have  ventured  within  her  gates.  Hanmiond  came  and  died.  Mood}-  and 
Sankey  came  and  went,  and  were  heard  of  no  more.  Harrison  sniffed  of  her 
atmosphere,  and  his  youtliful  stomach  is  not  in  working  order  yet.  Varley 
came  and  went  back  to  his  butcher  stall.  Now  Sam  Jones  braves  her  basilisk 
eye.  He,  too,  might  as  well  prepare  to  go  out  of  the  revival  business.  The 
reason  is.  Protestantism  is  dead  in  this  town ;  and  Caiholics  have  no  use  for  re- 
ligious burlesque. 

The  evangelist  heard  of  this  paragraph,  and  replied: 
I'll  be  the  livest  man  ever  buried  in  this  community. 

Father  Phelan  returned  to  the  charge  the  next  week  with 
a  still  longer  and  more  bitter  editorial.  But  its  effect  was 
confined  to  his  own  Church,  from  which  no  aid  could  be  ex- 
pected. One  or  two  Protestant  clergymen,  in  town  were 
almost  as  trenchant,  their  opposition,  however,  being  chief- 
ly based  on  charges  of  vulgarity  and  irreverence.  But  the 
general  verdict  was  strongly  in  his  favor.  He  occupied  the 
pulpits  of  many  of  the  leading  churches.  Music  Hall  was 
crowded  whenever  he  preached  there.  On  one  occasion, 
nearly  a  thousand  persons  stayed  to  the  after  service. 

His  meetings  in  St.  Louis  ended  the  20th  of  December.  On 
the  day  before  the  final  gathering,  a  number  of  the  most 
prominent  ministers  of  the  city  prepared  an  expression  of 
their  feelings  toward  their  helper  in  their  good  work;  and- 
this  testimonial,  signed  by  twelve  clergymen  of  the  leading 
evangelical  denominations,  was  widely  published. 

After  a  brief  period  of  rest  at  home,  he  proceeded  to  Cin- 
cinnati, where  he  was  expected  to  accomplish  less  than  else- 
where, on  account  of  the  peculiar  wickedness  of  the  "  Paris 
of  America.''  But  this  is  from  the  Enquirer^  less  than  a  week 
after  the  arrival  of  the  "Two  Sams"  on  the  12th  of  January  : 

More  people  were  turned  away  from  Trinity  Church  last  evening  than  could 
get  in.  The  crush  was  indescribable,  and  a  few  minutes  after  the  church  doors 
were  opened  every  foot  of  space  was  occupied,  even  the  aisles  and  vestibule  be- 
ing packed.  The  doors  were  then  closed,  and  some  two  or  three  thousand 
were  turned  away.  The  jam  to  get  into  the  church  was  so  great  that  several 
women  fainted  and  were  trampled  upon,  men  rushing  over  them  to  get  into 
the  church  without  regard  for  life  or  limb.  Two  or  three  women  narrowly  es- 
caped serious  injury. 

The  papers,  containing  full  accounts  of  the  meetings,  were 

in  as  great  demand  as  the  St.  Louis  papers  had  been  under 

similar  circumstances.   The  St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat  had  been 

the  first  newspaper  of  the  land  to  fully  recognize  the  great- 


Incidents  in  the  Field.  xxiii 

ness  of  the  Jones  movement,  and  to  print /m?/  verbatim  re- 
ports of  his  sermons.  In  Cincinnati,  at  first,  the  papers  print- 
ed somewhat  curtailed  reports  ',  but  were  finally,  towards  the 
last,  aroused  by  the  greatness  of  the  work  to  improve  on 
them  )  and  before  the  Sams  left,  the  Commercial  Gazette^  awak- 
ing to  a  realization  of  the  public  appetite,  announced  that 
the  next  series,  in  Chicago,  would  be  telegraphed. 

Music  Hall  was  secured,  and  the  vast  audience-chamber 
was  packed,  no  matter  what  the  weather  might  be.  On  one 
occasion  there  were  nearly  six  hundred  persons  on  the  stage ; 
at  another,  there  were  sixty  ministers  present.  Here  is  an 
incident  from  one  of  the  sermons: 

One  of  the  leading  merchants  said  to  me  the  other  day :  "A  saloon-keeper 
came  to  me,  and  daring  our  conversation  said:  'You  know  that  on  every  Sat- 
urday I  come  to  settle  my  bills,  but  I  can't  settle  them  to-day,'  'Wliy?'  I 
asked.  'I  don't  know,  but  I've  sold  less  whisky  and  beer  in  the  last  week  than 
any  week  I've  been  in  the  business.  People  don't  seem  to  drink  any  more. 
Maybe  the  hurrah  down  at  Music  Hall  has  broken  into  my  trade.' " 

Mr.  Jones  usually  preaches  one  or  two  sermons  each  to 
men  alone,  also  to  women  alone,  and  in  all  the  large  cities  a 
most  extraordinary  sight  has  been  the  vast  audiences  of  from 
four  to  seven  thousand,  of  one  sex  only,  crowding  the  larg- 
est halls  that  could  be  obtained. 

On  the  evening  of  the  20th,  fully  two  thousand  persons 
arose  when  the  evangelist  called  for  those  who  would  say :  ^'I 
give  my  soul  to  Christ. '^ 

The  meetings  steadily  increased.  But  the  time  at  last  came 

to  an  end.     A  dispatch  to  another  city,  dated  Feb.  14,  says  : 

An  extraordinary  scene  took  place  to-night  at  Music  Hall.  It  was  tlie 
closing  night  of  the  meetings  of  Sam  Jones  and  Sam  Small.  The  services 
were  to  begin  at  7  :  30.  At  6  o'clock,  when  the  doors  were  opened,  over  G.OOO 
people  were  pressing  for  admission,  and  in  live  minutes  after  6  every  seat  in 
the  hall  was  taken.  ^Thenthe  stage  was  packed,  until  the  people,  among  them 
women,  sat  on  the  front  edge.  Eight  thousand  peeple  were  packed  in  the 
house.  The  Odeon  adjoining  was  also  packed  full.  Small  preached  there. 
At  7  o'clock,  whe?i  Dr.  Joyce  made  his  way  on  the  stage,  he  said  he  had  en- 
tered with  great  difficulty;  that  the  front  of  the  hall  was  packed  with  people 
vainly  trying  to  enter,  and  that  the  streets  for  three  squares  were  a  solid  mass 
of  people.  He  was  sure  25,000  people  had  tried  to  enter  Music  Hall.  Fifteen 
minutes  later  another  minister  arrived  and  said  there  were  30,000  unable  to 
get  in.  Ten  minutes  later  Sam  Jones  appeared,  and  said  a  policeman  had 
told  him  there  were  40,000  people  in  and  about  Music  Hall. 

From  Cincinnati  the  two  Sams  went  home  for  a  brief  rest, 
preparatory  to  attacking  another  stronghold  of  sin,  as  stub- 
born as  Cincinnati,  and  fully  twice  as  large.  The  last  of  Feb- 
ruary the  meetings  in  Chicago  began,  extending  into  April. 


xxiv  Incidents  in  the  Field, 

Mr.  Small  preached  for  a  week  before  Mr.  Jones  came,  and, 
alone  without  the  help  of  that  tower  of  strength,  was  subject- 
ed to  a  hot  cross-fire.  Even  when  Mr.  Jones  arrived,  their  re- 
ception, says  ametropolitanpaper  of  the  date,  was  *'chilling- 
ly  critical;''  the  dailies  were  full  of  adverse  criticisms. 

The  Casino  Eink,  which  has  a  seating  capacity  of  7,000, 
was  engaged  for  the  services.  The  meetings  were  well  at- 
tended from  the  first,  but  mainly  by  church  members.  On 
the  19th  of  March,  leading  ministers  of  the  city  issued  an  ad- 
dress to  the  Christian  people  of  the  country,  calling  for  their 
prayers  in  behalf  of  Chicago,  and  detailing  the  wonderful 
awakening  among  the  congregations  there.  This  awakening 
itself  may  be  taken  as  an  evidence  of  success,  as  it  is  the  first 
aim  of  the  evangelist  to  quicken  the  members  of  the  churches. 

One  thing  which  had  proved  a  hindrance  to  them  in  their 
work  was  the  fact  that  both  the  evangelists  chewed  tobacco ; 
their  opponents  arguing  that  this  filthy  habit  was  just  as  in- 
compatible with  the  exercise  of  Christian  self-denial  as  many 
of  the  vices  so  emphatically  condemned  in  their  sermons. 
They  at  first  fought  hard  against  this  interpretation.  At 
last,  however,  the  announcement  was  made,  first  that  Mr. 
Small,  and  then  that  Mr.  Jones  had  given  up  the  practice. 
Since  the  use  of  it  was  not  a  matter  of  principle  with  them 
they  gave  way  ;  thus  a  great  victory  over  self  was  establish- 
ed, and  the  evangelists  stood  before  the  world  clear  of  a  hab- 
it which  might  lead  their  brothers  to  offend. 

At  a  ministerial  meeting  in  Chicago,  some  most  remarka- 
ble voluntary  testimony  was  given  by  preachers  famous  over 
the  whole  land,  that  they  had  personally  been  greatly  arous- 
ed and  imbued  with  new  ideas  and  purposes  by  Mr.  Jones. 

The  following  may  be  regarded  as  an  official  statement 
of  the  result,  coming  from  one  who  certainly  had  better  op- 
portunities forjudging  than  the  outside  world  : 

The  Rev.  R.  W.  Bland,  Secretary  of  the  Executive  Committee  which  has 
had  chari;e  of  the  meetings,  estimates  that  about  1,500  persons  have  professed 
religion  during  these  meetings,  and  hundreds  more  have  asked  for  prayers  and 
signified  their  desire  to  lead  better  lives. 

They  left  for  their  homes  on  the  5th  of  April,  to  rest  for  a 
week,  going  then  to  Columbus,  Mississippi.  At  this  place 
seven  hundred  and  eight  persons  were  converted — a  remark- 
able showing  when  the  size  of  the  place  is  considered,  as  well 
as  the  short  length  of  the  meeting — a  week. 


Incidents  in  the  Field,  xxv 

After  another  week^s  rest  at  home,  the  two  Sams  left  for 
Baltimore,  at  which  city  they  arrived  on  the  2d  of  May. 
Their  fame  had  gone  before  them,  and  had  prepared  the  way 
for  their  preaching.  However,  hostile  criticism  soon  made 
itself  manifest  from  that  finical  portion  of  the  community  on 
whose  refined  ears  Sam  Jones'  rasping  denunciations  of  mod- 
ern vices  grated  harshly.  Paragraphs  found  their  way  into 
the  press  of  the  whole  country  declaring  that  he  w/js  a  fail- 
ure in  Baltimore;  that  while  his  style  may  have  suited  the 
wilder  West  and  farther  South,  the  people  of  this  old  and  cul- 
tivated city  received  him  coldly.  But  this  was  an  old  eom^ 
plaint  to  Sam,  and  he  replied  ; 

Some  of  you  have  been  slipping  around  saying  that  Mr.  Jones  has  found  out 
that  his  style  don't  suit  Baltimore,  and  he  changed  it.  You'll  see  before  I  get 
through  whether  my  style  suits  Baltimore  or  not.  Do  yovi  think  I  owe  Balti- 
more anything?  I  wonder  if  you  think  I  came  here  to  hev/  and  cut  to  please 
the  style  of  Baltimore.  There's  many  a  church  dominated  by  a  rich  man,  and 
the  preacher  has  got  to  preach  in  the  rich  man's  line.  Probably  that  rich  fel- 
low's worth  $100,000,  and  only  gives  $5,000  to  the  Lord  in  his  lifetime.  If 
I  was  running  perdition  I  wouldn't  make  him  a  corporal. 

The  cavilers  soon  found  that.when  the  coat  was  made  it 
fitted  admirably,  and  whereas  their  stay  was  first  appointed 
for  but  three  weeks,  the  revivalists  were  solicited  to  remain 
much  longer,  which  they  did.     Said  the  American  o^  the  13th: 

A  large  number  went  into  the  inquiry  room.  About  one  hundred,  it  is 
said,  have  been  converted  thus  far.  Sam  Jones  has  expressed  himself  as  much 
satisfied  with  the  results  of  the  meeting  to  date.  Two  weeks  Irere  have 
yielded  better  results  than  three  in  Chicago. 

He  held  a  service  at  the  Penitentiary  on  the  9th,  in  which 
he  used  these  expressive  words  to  his  convict  audience : 

The  worst  man  in  INIaryland  is  not  in  the  penitentiary  at  all.  He's  too 
sharp  for  that.  He  don't  allow  himself  to  be  caught.  There  are  a  good  many 
men  in  Baltimore  out  of  the  penitentiary  who  have  done  worse  things  than 
those  inside.  God  does  not  look  at  the  clothes  a  man  has  on.  I  never  see  a 
man  in  striped  clothes  without  thinking  to  myself:  "  But  for  grace,  old  fellow, 
you'd  be  in  striped  clothes  yourself;  and  you  came  mighty  near  it,  anyhow." 
If  every  deed  of  every  man  outside  these  walls  were  known  and  proved,  there'd 
be  more  inside  this  place  than  you've  any  idea  of.  There  are  no  striped 
clothes  above,  but  all  are  robes  of  shining  white. 

The  meetings  continued  to  increase  in  popularity  and  use- 
fulness. One  service  was  held  especially  for  the  Jews.  He 
had  never  preached  to  the  Hebrews  before,  he  said  ;  but  the 
meeting  was  well  attended,  and  the  listeners  deeply  inter- 
ested. 

In  Baltimore,  as  elsewhere,  the  interest  was  not  confined 
to  the  city  itself;  casual  visitors  listened  to  him. 

One  man  came  over  from  Philadelphia  and  heard  him  preach.    He  declared 


xxvi  IncidP-nH  in  the  Field. 

he  was  ignorant  of  tlit'  Scriptures,  and  knew  nothing  about  religion  at  all. 
When  told  that  Sam  had  some  designs  on  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love  after  he 
had  laid  Baltimore  low,  he  declared  he  would  go  right  home^and  take  meas- 
ures to  have  him  barred  out. 

There  are  several  questions  to  be  considered  with  regard 
to  his  work.  What  is  his  secret  of  success  ?  Will  his  converts 
be  permanent  gains  to  the  side  of  the  Church  ?  How  does  he 
endure  such  work  as  he  imposes  upon  himself? 

He  preaches  a  plain,  practical  religion,  such  as  thinking 
men  can  see  will  be  a  real  gain  morally ;  this  is  not  the  mere 
emotional  frenzy  into  which  many  lash  their  hearers,  and 
hence  the  change  in  his  converts  is  likely  to  be  more  perma- 
nent. This  apart  from  all  question  of  the  blessing  from  on 
high.  As  to  the  last  question  proposed,  it  is  not  so  easy  to 
answer  it  in  a  purely  secular  way,  or  from  any  standpoint^ 
but  this  of  his  own  : 

I  believe  God  has  helped  me  to  do  a  good  deal  of  work.  I  don't  believe 
that  any  man  in  the  world  could  undergo  the  mental  and  nervous  strain  that  1 
do  unless  God  helped  him.  I  don't  believe  that  there  is  a  lawyer  who  could  go 
into  an}^  court-room  in  this  country,  and  plead  a  case  week  after  week  like 
I  do  with  you.  I  do  not  think  that  he  could  stand  five  weeks  of  it,  much  lessf 
thirteen  years.  I  have  been  preaching  day  after  day,  like  3^ou  have  lieard  me 
here,  for  thirteen  3"ears.  I  commenced  as  a  circuit  rider — a  circuit  rider! 
That  is  probably  where  you  may  have  got  the  circus  idea  about  me.  [Laugh- 
ter.] I  generally  preach  twice  a  day  nearly  the  year  round — or  rather  once  a 
day  and" three  times  on  Sunday.  And  I  have  been  hard  at  it  for  thirteen 
years. 

The  conversions  in  Baltimore  were  finally  estimated  at 
from  1,200  to  1,800.     '^  But,''  said  Mr.  Jones  to  a  reporter : 

A  preacher  never  gets  credit  for  the  old  rusty  guns  that  he  polishes  up  an(? 
puts  in  tighting  shape.  There  are  many  old  guns  in  this  city,  and  some  of  them 
haven't  been  loaded  since  the  war.  They  are  loaded  now,  and  I  hope  they'll 
do  battle  for  the  Lord.  An  editor  once  said  to  me  ;  "  Jones,  the  newspapers 
have  made  you."     Well,  said  I,  tell  'em  to  make  another. 

That  paper  also  says  : 

All  the  meetings  have  been  well  attended,  most  of  them  overflowing.  Two- 
thirds  of  the  audiences  have  been  young  girls  and  women.  The  largest  num- 
ber of  conversions  at  any  one  meeting  was  300.  The  ladies  became  very  en' 
thusiastic  and  frequently  took  their  suppers  with  them,  in  order  to  be  in  timf 
to  get  a  good  place. 

But  this  is  enough.  Let  him  speak  for  himself  in  his  ser- 
mons, as  he  goes  from  city  to  city  in  his  tireless  work. 


SEKMONS 


|.ET   Your  |^iqht  ^o   ^hine. 


Let  5'our  light  so  shine  before  men  that  they  may  see  your  good  works,  and 
glorify  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven. — Matthew  5;  16. 

will  read  the  l:wo  preceding  verses: 


14.  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world.    A  city  that  is  set  on  a  hill  can  not  be 
hid. 

15.  Neither  do  men  light  a  candle  and  put  it  under  a  bushel,  but  on  a 
candlestick ;  and  it  giveth  light  unto  all  that  are  in  the  house. 

This  is  the  fifteenth  verse : 

Neither  do  men  light  a  candle  and  put  it  under  a  bushel,  but  on  a  candle 
stick. 

I  have  frequently  gone  into  a  community,  and  while  there 
I  have  kicked  the  bushel  oif  a  great  many  men's  lights,  and 
they  would  fall  out  with  me  and  say  I  put  their  light  out. 
And  I  didn't.  Their  light  had  gone  out  over  ten  j^cars  be- 
fore, when  they  went  and  turned  that  bushel  down  over  it. 
It  went  out  the  minute  they  turned  that  bushel  over  it. 
Sometimes  it  is  the  bushel  of  neglect.  Sometimes  it  is  the 
bushel  of  willful  transgression.  Sometimes  it  is  the  bushel 
of  avarice.  And  there  are  a  thousand  bushels  that  will 
be  furnished  you  at  any  time  you  want  one  to  turn 
over  your  light.  And  at  any  moment,  if  you  put  a  bushel 
over  your  light — if  your  light  was  burning  and  you  have 
taken  and  turned  a  bushel  and  put  it  over  it — you  will  find 
your  light  is  out.  And  don't  be  foolish  enough  to  think  that 
the  man  that  removed  the  bushel  put  your  light  out.  It 
was  the  bushel  turned  down  over  it  that  put  the  light  out. 
23 


24  Let  Your  Light  So  Shine. 

Neither  do  men  light  a  candle  and  put  it  under  a  bushel,  but  on  a  candle- 
stick, that  it  may  give  light  unto  all  that  are  in  the  house. 

Now  the  text : 

Let  your  light  so  shine  before  men  that  they  may  see  your  good  works,  and 
glorify  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

THE   EARNESTNESS   OF   LIFE. 

Joseph  Cook,  the  Boston  Monday  lecturer,  said  on  one 
occasion,  ^'Gentlemen,  this  universe,  up  to  the  edge  of  the 
tomb,  is  no  joke.''  And  if  in  this  world  the  realities  of  the 
world,  the  pleasures  and  enjoyments  and  friendshijos  and  as- 
sociations of  this  world,  up  to  the  edge  of  the  tomb,  are  no 
joke,  then  we  may  rest  assured  that  there  is  no  joke  in  the 
tomb  and  no  jokes  beyond  the  tomb.  And  it  is  well  enough 
for  us,  amid  the  rush  and  cracking  on  of  life,  to  stop  now 
and  then  and  listen.  There  are  some  voices  that  may  be 
heard  if  we  would  listen.  God  speaks  occasionally.  I 
know  the  roar  of  commerce  and  the  rush  of  trade,  and  the 
whistle  of  the  engine,  and  the  click  of  the  telegraph  have 
well-nigh  drowned  out  the  voice  of  God;  but  amid  all  life's 
confusions,  on  our  pilgrimage  to  the  grave,  we  ought  to 
stop  now  and  then,  and  bend  our  ears,  and  listen  to  that 
voice  that  never  misled  a  human  step,  nor  ever  misdirected 
a  human  heart — that  still  small  voice  that  breaks  through 
the  silence  from  above  and  hushes  the  noises  of  earth,  and 
makes  me  see  who  I  am  and  what  I  am  and  whither  I  am 
tending.  And  in  this  verse  this  morning  there  is  a  message 
for  every  one  of  us. 

I  got  this  verse  from  the  memorable  sermon  of  our  Sav- 
ior. This  was  a  wonderful  sermon.  I  have  often  thought 
if  I  ever  get  to  heaven  I  would  hunt  up  some  intelligent 
man  who  heard  this  sermon.  I  would  go  to  him  and  I 
would  ask  him  to  describe  the  manner  of  its  delivery,  its  ef- 
fect upon  the  audience,  and  I  would  have  him  give  me  a  de- 
scription of  the  face  of  the  Son  of  God  as  he  uttered  these 
words.  We  little  preachers  think  we  are  doing  well  if  we 
announce  a  text  and  play  for  a  few  minutes  each  on  our 
^'firstly"  and  ^^ secondly"  and  "thirdly;"  but  do  you  know 
that  in  this  one  sermon  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  announces  and 
discusses  one  hundred  and  twenty  different  propositions. 
Oh,  what  a  preacher  he  was.  I  have  sometimes  thought  if 
he  had  had  a  different  audience  he  would  have  preached 


Let  Your  Light  So  Shine. 


25 


quite  a  diiferent  sermon.  He  was  a  man  walking  among 
men  and  preaching  to  men  and  among  men.  I  often  think 
of  this  sermon  and  of  the  discourse  on  homiletics  delivered 
by  the  colored  sexton  of  the  First  Methodist  Church  in 
Memphis.  He  had  been  sexton  of  that  church  for  thirty 
years  and  more.  He  is  a  pious,  consistent,  good  man.  The 
preachers  on  one  occasion,  during  a  revival  meeting  there, 
were  discussing  the  mode  of  preaching,  and  what  was  the  j 
most  efficient  means. 

THE   sexton's  idea   OF   PREACHING. 

This  old  colored  man  jumped  up,  and  said  he,  ^'Brethren, 


Putting  the  Fodder  Too  High. 
I  have  seen  for  years  that  mode  of  preaching.  Our  pastor 
don't  put  the  fodder  down  low  enough.  I  went  to  see  our 
preacher  in  his  study  a  few  mornings  ago,  and  he  had  six 
books  open  before  him.  I  said  to  him,  *' Brother,  if  you 
get  one  sermon  out  of  six  books,  you  are  going  to  put  that 
fodder  up  where  I  can't  reach,  and  where  a  great  many 
others  can^t  reach  ;  and,"  said  he,  *'  before  God,  I  have  gone 
into  church  hungry  many  a  Sunday  morning,  and  left  hung- 
ry ;  and,"  said  he,  ^'  thank  God  we  have  got  a  preacher  now 
that  just  puts  the  fodder  down  on  the  ground  and  every- 
thing can  reach  it."  And  that's  a  fact.  Evcrj^thing  can 
reach  a  thing  when  it  is  on  the  ground  ;  and,  as  far  as  I  am 
concerned,  I  believe  it  is  the  Chrislly  v/ay  to  find  a  common 
level  and  stand  on  that  level  to  preach  to  the  masses.     And 


26  Let  Your  Light  So  Shine, 

if  you  see  me  drop  down  at  all  while  I  am  here,  you  may 
know  that  f  am  seeking  a  level,  and  that's  all  the  meaning 
there  is  in  it  at  all.  If  you  see  my  style  donH  exactly  suit 
you,  and  the  grammar  and  rhetoric  and  logic  are  a  little 
butchered,  I  am  just  endeavoring  to  adapt  my  style  to  my 
crowd;  don't  forget  that,  and  I'll  find  your  level  before  I 
leave  you. 

And  I  want  to  say  before  I  proceed  further,  I  will  relieve 
your  minds  this  far:  I  shall  not  ask  the  Centenary  Church 
in  St.  Louis  for  a  certificate  of  good  behavior  while  I  am 
here.  I  am  not  going  to  ask  you  for  a  certificate  of  any 
sort,  or  a  recommendation  to  Cincinnati,  the  place  to  which 
we  next  go.  In  the  first  place,  I  don't  think  I  need  a  cer- 
tificate from  you  at  all,  and  in  the  second  place  I  don't  know 
whether  your  certificate  would  be  worth  anything,  anyhow. 
So  I  will  relieve  your  minds  that  far.  And  we  say  to  you 
in  love  and  kindness,  we  don't  want  anybody  to  indorse  us, 
but  want  every  Christian  in  St.  Louis  to  co-operate  with  us. 
You  all  do  the  co-operating  and  God  will  do  the  indorsing, 
and  then  we  will  be  elected  by  a  large  majority.  And  furth- 
er, we  say :  If  anything  suggests  a  smile  or  laughter,  you 
can  laugh  or  smile.  If  anything  suggests  a  tear,  there  is 
nothing  prettier  in  the  house  of  Grod  than  the  tear  that 
wouldn't  stain  an  angel's  cheek,  running  down  your  face. 
But  understand,  there  is  just  as  much  religion  in  laughing 
as  in  crying.     Don't  forget  that. 

AN   EXPLODED   NOTION. 

This  old  idea  that  when  God's  children  come  together 
they  must  be  solemn  and  serious — that's  something  that  is 
as  big  a  mistake  as  the  j^reacher  made  when  he  told  those 
sinners  in  St.  Louis  that  God  was  mad  with  every  one  of 
them,  and  was  just  waiting  to  catch  them  in  a  close  place, 
and  was  going  for  them  when  he  got  them  in  a  tight  fix. 
Both  those  mistakes  are  as  big  lies  as  were  ever  perpetrat- 
ed ujijon  the  face  of  this  earth.  Neither  one  is  true.  If  you 
feel  like  laughing,  you  laugh.  If  you  feel  like  crying,  you 
cry.  But  don't  think  either  one  is  pious.  It  is  not.  One  of 
my  children  laughs  a  good  deal — laughs  a  great  deal ;  an- 
other one  cries.  I  don't  think  either  is  pious.  And  if  you 
feel  more  like  laughing  than  crying,  you  laugh.  As  far  as 
solemn  looks  are  concerned,  if  I  had  been  stealing  something, 


Let  Your  Light  So  Shine.  27 

or  robbed  a  widow,  or  been  drunk  during  the  past  week, 
when  I  came  into  church  on  Sunday  morning  I  would  look 
solemn,  because  that  would  be  the  time  to  look  solemn; 
but  if  you  have  been  acting  right,  you  just  wear  a  smile  as 
broad  as  you  please  when  you  come  into  the  presence  of 
God.  God's  children  should  smile  when  they  have  done 
right.  That  is  the  way  my  children  do.  When  they  have 
been  doing  right  they  are  full  of  smiles  and  pleasantry.  But 
as  certain  as  one  of  them  has  been  doing  wrong,  he  comes 
up  mighty  solemn  ;  and  it  is  a  time  to  be  solemn,  too.  When- 
ever you  have  been  doing  right  you  can  smile  in  church. 
But  if  you  have  not,  you  want  to  be  mighty  solemn,  and  I 
want  you  to  be  so. 

Our  Savior,  as  I  said,  was  not  only  a  wonderful  preacher, 
but  a  pre-eminently  practical  one.  He  had  something  to  say 
to  every  one,  and  this  message  comes  to  us  this  morning: 

Let  your  light  so  shine  before  men  that  they  may  see  your  good  works, 
and  glorify  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

Did  you  ever  see  such  a  string  of  pearls  as  this  text? 
such  a  monosyllabic  utterance  ? 

Let — your — light — so — shine — before — men  — that  —  they  —  may  —  see — 
your — good — works — and — glorify  ■ — your  —  Father  —  which — is — in — heaven. 

Now,  let  us  take,  perhaps,  the  most  important  word  in 
this  text,  and  let  us  analyze  it.   Let  us  take  the  word  '*  light.'' 

THE   ANALYSIS   OF   LIGHT. 

Light.  We  know  very  little  what  it  is  as  a  principle  un- 
less we  analyze  it.  What  is  light  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is 
used  here?  We  will  say,  in  order  that  we  may  be  practical, 
that  light  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  used  in  this  text  is  a 
trinity  in  unity.  Its  principle  is  faith  in  God.  Its  essence 
is  love  to  God.  Its  development  is  obedience  to  God.  Now, 
the  plain  English  of  the  text  is  to  tell  us:  "  Let  your  faith 
and  love  and  good  works  so  shine,  so  appear,  that  others  may 
see  them  and  glorify  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven.''  ^'Let 
your  faith,"  first.  And  now,  Ictus  be  consistent  with  our- 
selves and  consistent  with  the  truth.  If ''light"  is  this 
trinity  in  unity — faith,  love  and  obedience — then  what  is  the 
contrast?    Darkness,  or  unbelief,  enmity,  disobedience. 

Now,  these  are  unmixable.  You  can't  mix  either  of  the 
ingredients  of  the  one  with  those  of  the  other.  I  must  have 
faith  and  love  and  obedience  on  the  one  hand,  if  I  have  light. 


28 


Let  Your  Light  So  Shine, 


I  shall  have  the  other  elements  if  I  have  darkness. 
Kow,  faith  !  Oh,  how  omnipotent  faith  is !  Faith  bring? 
God  to  my  help,  and  if  God  be  with  me  and  all  the  world 
against  me,  I  am  in  the  infinite  majority.  God  is  on  my  side. 
I  believe. 

NoWy  there  are  people  in  this  country  called  fanatics — en- 
thusiasts.    JSTow,  I  say,  if  this  book  is  true,  and  I  believe  this 

book,  am  I  a  fanatic?  If  this  book 
is  true,  and  I  believe  this  book,  am 
I  an  enthusiast?  Now,  you  have 
read  a  great  many  strange  things 
that  I  have  done  and  said,  and  a 
great  many  things  that  I  never  did 
and  never  said  [smiling  at  the  re- 
porters], and  if  you  had  to  be 
hanged  to-morrow  you  couldnH 
pick  out  the  things  I  had  really 
said.  I  am  not  sorry  that  anything 
has  been  said  about  me,  at  all.  The 
devil  does  a  great  deal  of  advertis- 
ing for  me  and  does  it  free.  If  I 
had  to  pay  for  all  the  advertising 
I  have  got  it  would  break  me  in 
three  minutesj  but  he  does  it  gratis. 

WHO   IS    CRAZY? 

But  take  it  for  granted  that  all 
that  has  been  reported  as  having  been  done  and  said,  is  true 
— am  I  crazy  ?  If  this  book  is  true,  and  I  believe  it,  I  want 
to  be  so  crazy  that  I  can  not  keep  my  mouth  shut  a  single 
moment.  If  this  book  is  true,  and  I  believe  it,  I  want  to  be 
so  crazy  that  I  will  work  for  God  and  souls  just  like  I  was 
hired  by  the  day  to  work  my  way  to  heaven.  If  this  book 
lis  true,  I  am  not  crazy,  but  Brother  Tudor  has  about  three 
,  or  four  hundred  members  of  this  church  that  are  so  crazy 
that  they  won't  pray  and  won't  open  their  mouths  for  God, 
that  are  so  crazy  that  they  won't  do  anything.  Ah  me  !  the 
most  deadly  fixnaticism  that  ever  overshadowed  the  soul  is 
that  which  makes  a  man  fold  his  arms,  and  walk  right  along 
down  into  the  fire  without  quivering  a  nerve  or  jerking  a 
muscle.  That  sort  of  fanaticism  says:  ''Keep  cool.  Don't 
get  excited."     That  is  the  sort  of  fanaticism  that  breeds 


Devil    A  dvertising 
Jones  Free. 


Sam 


Let   Your  Light  So  Shine, 


29 


stagnation;  and  Stagnation  is  the  last  station  this  side  of 
Damnation.  You  can't  go  beyond  Stagnation  without  going 
on  to  Damnation.  I  read  a  few  days  ago  where  an  eminent 
preacher  stood  up  on  Sunday  morning  before  a  vast  congre- 
gation that  packed  every  pew,  and  preached  against  religi- 
ous sensationalism.  He  preached  right  square  against  religi- 
ous fanaticism;  and  there  hadn't  been  a  drunk  in  his  church 
for  twenty  years!  That  is  like  a  poor  old  fellow  pushing 
up  his  tombstone  lid,  sticking  his  head  out,  and  telling  the 
other  tombstones,  '*  Be  quiet !  Don't  kick  up  any  row  !  Keep 
perfectly  still !"    and  then  he  drops  his  top  slab  back,  and 


*^Keep  still;  don't  get  excited.''^ 

lies  down  in  hisgravc,and  says, "I'll  neverdie  until  I'mdead.'' 

THE    COMPULSION    TO    SPEAK. 

I  never  will  bo  quiet  as  long  as  I  have  a  tongue  to  talk 
and  lungs  to  breathe.  God  help  me  to  believe  and  know 
this  book  is  true,  and  chen  the  world  may  judge  whether 
I  am  crazy  or  not.  I  believe,  and  when  a  man  believes 
this  book,  he  is  going  to  do  some  mighty  strange  things  in 
this  world.  When  St.  Paul  believed,  when  Luther  be- 
lieved, when  John  Wesley  believed,  when  Melancthon 
believed,  when  George  Whitfield  believed,  when  Spurgcon 
believed,  when  Talmage  believed,   when   Moody  believed, 


30  Let  Your  Light  So  Shine, 

you  don't  know  how  things  moved  round  and  stirred  up,  as 
they  said  of  Paul,  "no  small  stir/'  Do  you  recollect  how, 
over  at  Ephesus,  he  had  them  stirred  up,  burning  their 
books  on  a  great  bonfire,  and  causing  the  Mayor  and  police 
to  send  and  stop  the  crowd  right  there?  And  if  St.  Paul 
was  to  preach  in  St.  Louis  to-day,  he  would  be  telegraphed 
all  over  America  as  the  greatest  religious  fanatic  that  ever 
made  a  crack  in  this  country.  I  rather  like  that  title,  re- 
ligious fanatic.  It  is  no  reflection  on  me,  but  is  death  to  the 
balance  of  you;  do  you  see?  It  is  a  contrast  that  brings 
the  thing  out,  you  see. 

FAITH  !    I  BELIEVE  !    I  BELIEVE  ! 

The  man  that  says  "I  believe,"  and  feels  it  in  his  blood 
and  bones — that  man  is  omnipotent. 

"I  believe.^'  The  apostles  talk  about  the  "certainty  of 
these  things,"  the  "infallible  signs,"  the  one  word  of 
prophecy."  It  was  "I  believe"  that  made  St.  Paul  cry  out, 
"This  one  thing  I  do."  It  was  "I  believe"  that  made  St. 
Paul  say,  "Neither  count  I  my  life  dear  unto  me.  I  count 
all  things  but  loss."  It  was  "I  believe"  that  made  St.  Paul 
say,  "I  lay  aside  every  weight  and  the  sin  that  doth  so  easily 
beset  me.  I  throw  them  aside.  If  my  coat  is  in  the  way, 
off  with  it.  If  my  hat,  off  with  it.  If  my  shoes,  off  with 
them.  I  will  run  my  way  to  God,  bare-headed,  coatless  and 
shoeless,  so  I  make  my  race  in  safety  to  my  God  and  peace." 
And,  brother,  when  a  man  gets  in  earnest  he  believes,  and 
when  a  man  believes  he  gets  in  earnest,  somehow  or  other. 

CHURCH   INFIDELITY. 

When  Mr.  Moody  came  back  from  across  the  water,  after 
the  greatest  revival  in  Europe,  he  was  met  in  New  York  by 
an  American  delegation.  They  said  :  "Mr.  Moody,  we  greet 
you.  We  glorify  God  in  behalf  of  these  things  over  in  Eu- 
rope ;  but,  Mr.  Moody,  you  can't  do  that  over  here."  Mr. 
Moody  looked  at  these  Christian  men  and  said:  "If  God 
Almighty  will  take  the  infidelity  out  of  the  heart  of  the 
Church  in  America  we  will  bring  all  America  to  Christ." 
And  he  announced  a  truth  as  broad  as  the  depravity  of 
America.  "If  God  Almighty  will  take  the  infidelity  out  of 
the  heart  of  the  Church  in  America  we  can  bring  all  Amer- 
ica to  Christ."     Who  cares  about  Bob  IngersoU's  infidelity, 


Let  Your  Light  So  Shine.  31 

or  who  cares  about  anybody  else's  infidelity?  The  differ- 
ence between  the  men  is  that  that  man  in  the  Church  be- 
lieves everything  and  won't  do  anything,  while  Bob  Inger- 
soU  is  a  sort  of  theoretical  infidel,  that  gets  $1,500  a  night 
for  being  one,  and  you,  back  there,  like  a  fool,  are  one 
for  nothing  and  board  yourself.  That's  all  there  is 
about  it. 

Let  your  light  so  shine. 

That  is,  let  your  faith  so  appear.  ^'I  believe."  "Well,  I 
might  stop  here  and  say  something  on  faith,  and  we  will, 
perhaps,  on  another  occasion.  Faith  is  the  principle  on 
which  omnipotence  slumbers.  By  faith  the  world  was 
created.  By  faith  all  things  are.  By  faith  we  are  saved. 
By  faith  we  are  efficient. 

Faith.  *'I  believe.''  ^'I  believe."  While  I  have  faith, 
there  is  also  this  other  element  and  principle  of  love — love 
to  God  and  love  to  man.  If  a  man  believes  in  his  cause  and 
believes  he  is  right,  the  next  thing  is  universal  love;  love 
for  God  and  love  for  man. 

THE    QUESTION   OF    CHARACTER. 

And  we  will  say  another  thing.  There  are  two  kinds  of 
love.  There  is  love  of  that  which  is  groveling  and  low  and 
sensual,  and  there  is  love  of  that  which  is  ennobling,  inspir- 
ing, true  and  beautiful.  Now,  what  a  man  loves  and  what 
he  hates  determine  his  character.  If  you  will  tell  me  what 
you  love  and  what  you  hate,  I  will  tell  you  what  you  are  and 
who  you  are.  The  difference  between  the  devil,  the  enemy 
of  all  men,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  friend  of  all  men, 
the  great  difference  that  is  manifested  to  us  as  living  souls, 
is  in  what  each  loves  and  what  each  hates.  God  loves 
righteousness  and  hates  sin.  The  devil  hates  righteousness 
and  loves  sin.  What  I  love  and  what  I  hate  will  determine 
what  I  am  now  and  what  I  will  be  forever. 

Now,  if  I  love  God  there  is  but  one  test.  Our  Savior 
don't  say,  *'Ye  shall  talk  faith  and  live  in  sin."  He  said,  as 
you  and  I  know,  ''If  you  love  me,  keep  my  commandments." 
There  is  nothing  in  the  book  about  feeling.  We  are  not  run- 
ning on  feeling.  The  book  don't  say  ^'whosoever  feels,"  but 
''whosoever  will;"  nofwhosocverfeeleth,"  but  "whosoever 
believeth."    Recollect   that.     It  doesn't    say    "whosoever 


Let  Your  Light  So  Shine. 


feeleth,"  but  ''whosoever  doeth/^  There  is  a  great  deal  of 
nonsense  in  this  nineteenth  century  right  along  on  that 
point.  The  religion  that  is  here  referred  to  is  "principle," 
don't  you  see?  and  I  never  stop  to  ask  whether  I  have 
got  any  feeling  or  not.  If  I  have  got  any  feeling  at  all  this 
morning  I  donH  know  where  it  is.  I  couldn't  locate  It  to 
save  my  life,  but  I  have  before  me  the  undying,  eternal, 
uncompromising  reality  of  God  and  the  right.  And  the 
man  that  does  right  when  he  doesn't  feel  like  it  deserves 
credit  more  than  the  fellow  that  feels  like  it.   Don't  you  see  ? 

THE    GREATEST    CONQUEROR. 

Right!  Love!  Oh,  love  divine,  diffuse  thy  power  and 
presence  with  us.  The  omnipotent  principle  of  the  world  is 
love.  When  Alexander  the  Great  wanted  to  conquer  this 
world  he  mustered  his  forces  and  blood  flowed  like  a  river; 
and  poor  Alexander  when  he  died  was  a  conquered  wretch. 
When  JSTapoleon  Bonaparte  wanted  to  conquer  this  world, 
he  mustered  his  forces  and  all  Europe  was  drenched  in 
blood;  and  Napoleon  died  a  defeated  wretch  on  the  island 
of  St.  Helena.  But  when  Jesus  Christ  wanted  to  conquer  the 
earth  he  looked  at  it,  and  loved  it,  and  walked  upon  Calvar}^ 
and  laid  down  and  died  for  it;  and  Christ  has  well  nigh 
conquered  this  world.  Napoleon  said  :  "Alexander,  Charle- 
magne and  m^^self  founded  our  kingdoms  on  force,  and  they 
have  crumbled  under  our  feet;  but  Jesus  Christ  founded  his 
kingdom  on  love,  and  to-day  millions  of  men  would  die  for 
him." 

Love!    One  fellow  said  to  me  once,  "Brother  Jones,  my 

great  trouble  is  1 
can't  love  my  neigh- 
bor as  myself.  I 
have  tried  my  best 
and  I  can't  do  it." 
I  told  him,  "Well, 
I  don't  have  any 
trouble  with  that." 
He  says,  "How  do 
you  manage  to  do 
it?"  I  said,  "I  got 
a  good  square  look  at  myself  sixteen  years  ago,  and  I  have 


Taking  a  Good  Square  Look  at  Himself. 


Let  Your  Light  So  Shine.  33 

thought  more  of  every  nigger  I  met  since  then  than  I  do 
of  myself.  I  am  getting  along  first  rate,  and  if  you  get  an 
honest,  square  and  sincere  look  at  yourself  in  the  mirror  of 
love,  you  won't  be  at  all  mashed  on  yourself  after  that. 
That's  the  truth  about  it.     That  cured  me." 

LOVE   vs.    CONSCIENCE. 

Love.  If  we  love  ourselves  and  love  humanity,  we'll  do 
something  for  humanity.  Love.  Why,  conscience  will  make 
a  man  come  along  by  that  poor  wounded  creature,  and  make 
us  pick  him  up  and  put  him  on  our  beast,  and  take 
him  to  the  inn  and  pay  a  night's  lodging  for  the  poor 
wounded  fellow.  Conscience  will  make  us  do  that;  but  love 
will  make  us  pick  him  up  and  carry  him  to  the  inn  and  pay 
his  night's  lodging,  and  leave  enough  of  money  to  pay  his 
bill  until  he  is  well,  and  tell  the  inn-keeper  to  write  us  a 
note,  and  if  there  is  anything  lacking  we'll  give  it  all.  Con- 
science whips  a  fellow  up  a  great  deal  in  this  life,  but  love 
beats  him,  and  love  is  an  inspiration  to  him,  and  love  don't 
say,  "How  little  can  I  get  off  with  ?"  but  "How  much  can  I 
do?"  Love!  Love!  Love!  Love  is  the  wheels  under  a 
fellow  on  which  he  rolls.  The  difference  between  a  loco- 
motive and  a  stationary  engine  is,  one  has  got  wheels  under 
it  and  the  other  has  not.  The  difference  between  that  en- 
gine out  here  in  the  piney  woods  of  Georgia,  sawing  lumber, 
and  that  mighty  engine  that  drove  us  here  yesterday,  some- 
times at  the  rate  of  fifty  miles  an  hour,  is,  one  has  wheels 
under  it  and  the  other  has  not.  The  man  who  has  love,  who 
is  prompted  by  the  love  which  is  omnipotent,  has  wheels  un- 
der him,  and  he  rolls  grandly  along.  Love  !  Love  !  Most 
of  us,  though,  are  dropping  back  hurriedly  on  the  old  song. 
Of  all  the  folks  I  ever  saw, 
1  love  m^'self  the  best. 

There's  a  good  deal  in  that — practically,  I  mean. 

THE   VICE    OP    SELFISHNESS. 

I  am  sorry  for  any  man  in  this  world  that  has  a  great  big 
two  hundred  pounds  avoirdupois  case  of  selfishness  to  take 
care  of.  I'd  rather  try  to  run  a  miracle  than  try  to  run  a 
great  big  concentrated  lump  of  selfishness.  "I  want  the 
best  house  in  town  ;  I  want  the  best  seat  in  church,  and  I 
want  the  best  of  everything;  it  is  myself  and  my  wife,  and 
my  son  John  and  Sally — us  four  and  no  more."     It  is  "God 


34 


Let  Your  LigTit  So  Shine, 


has  put  us  in  this  world,  and  we  want  everything  in  it.  It 
is  nominative  7,  possessive  mine,  and  objective  me.  I  donH 
know  that  I  ever  had  any  grammar  beyond  that/' 

I  have  heard  many  an  old  fellow  get  up  in  a  class-meet- 
ing and  talk,  and  he  would  confess  a  thousand  things;  but  I 
have  never  heard  of  a  man  getting  up  in  meeting  anywhere 
and  confessing  that  he  was  selfish  or  avaricious.     Did  you? 


"  TJa  Four  and  No  More.'' 
I  never  have  yet.  That  is  a  sort  of  a  disease  a  fellow  does 
not  know  he's  got  until  it  kills  him.  That's  the  truth  of  it. 
Selfish.  Love  is  perfectly  unselfish.  Faith  in  God  and  in 
the  right,  and  a  love  for  humanity,  and  then  it  has  develop- 
ed his  obedience  to  God. 

Obedience  !  I  speak  of  faith.  Just  now  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  this  sort  of  faith  around  in  the  world — going  around 
with  the  mouth  open  and  both  hands  up  this  way,  "O,  Lord, 
give  me  something!  give  me  something!  give  me  some- 
thing!''  ''Well,  what  do  you  want?"  "Don't  know;  just 
want  something!"  And  just  about  sense — religious  sense — 
enough  to  keep  out  of  the  asj^lum.  "Just  want  something  !" 
Look  here!  The  Bible  represents  God  as  my  Father  and 
me  as  his  child.  I  am  a  father.  I  have  my  loved  ones  at 
my  home  that  look  up  to  me  and  lean  upon  me;  but,  as  God 
is  my  judge,  if,  every  time  my  children  came  around  me, 
they  were  everlastingly  begging  and  whining  for  some- 
thing, Fd  never  want  to  see  them  again  as  long  as  I  lived  ; 
and  none  of  you  ever  went  within  a  mile  of  the  Almighty  in 
your  life,  without  "Give  me  something !" 


Let  Your  Light  So  Shine. 


35 


"  Give  Me  Something ! 
Me  Something  /" 


Give 


A   BEGGING   SORT    OF   RELIGION. 

That's  mighty  straight  doctrine.  That — and  some  of  you 
know  it — just  knocks  your  cake  to  dough — don't  it?  Why, 
sir,  if  you  break  up  that  idea  [turning  to  Dr.  Tudor]  you'll 
ruin  half  of  your  number,  brother, 
out  there;  for  that's  all  there  is 
among  them,  the  ''give-me-some- 
thing"  sort.  ^'Giye  me  something." 
''What  do  you  want  ?"  ''  I  don't 
know — something."  More  grace, 
I  reckon.  How  a  fellow  feels 
when  he  wants  more  grace  !  You 
are  in  grace  up  to  your  chi^  every 
day,  and  what  you  want  is  to  use 
the  grace  you  have  already  got. 

Well,  I  want  to  pray  this  prayer 
once :  ''  Lord  God !  give  me  a 
clean  heart  and  a  right  spirit  and  an  upright  life.  Grod 
give  me  the  things  I  need."  And  when  I  pray  that  prayer 
once,  then  that  is  enough.  And  then  I  will  tell  you  what 
sort  of  faith  I  want  after  that.  It  is  the  faith  of  the 
missionary;  it  is  the  faith  of  consecration  ;  it  is  the  faith  of 
meditation;  that  is  the  sort.  In  Lexington,  Ky.,  in  the 
High-Bridge  camp-meeting  in  Kentucky,  after  preaching 
three  or  four  days  we  had  a  talking  meeting. 

THE  KENTUCKY  PASTOR's  REGRET. 

One  morning  the  pastor  of  the  Lexington  Church  stood  up 
in  the  talking  meeting  and  said  ;  "Brethren,  I  feel  like  I 
ought  to  be  in  sackcloth  and  ashes.  I  am  ashamed  of  myself ' 
— a  grand  man  he  was,  too,  a  true  man.  Said  he,  ''I  will  tell 
you,  when  I  look  back  twenty  years  ago  or  more,  I  see  how 
my  love  for  the  Southern  Confederacy  and  for  the  Southern 
cause  marched  me  out  in  the  ranks  of  Gren.  Lee  in  Virginia; 
and  my  love  for  the  Southern  Confederacy  and  my  conse- 
cration and  my  loyalty  to  the  Southern  Confederacy  march- 
ed me  many  a  day  barefooted.  I  slept  out  many  a  night  in 
the  snow  and  mud,  and  I  had  many  a  day  without  anything 
to  cat;  I  bared  this  breast  to  ten  thousand  bullets,  and  all 
for  the  Confederacy.  And  I  have  been  a  minister  for  twenty 
years,    and    I    have  never  marched    barefooted     for    Grod 

3 


J6 


Let  Your  Light  So  Shine. 


and  have  never  slept  ont  a  night  for  God.  I  haven't  gone 
hungry  a  single  meal.  And  to-day  I  renew  my  allegiance  to 
Grod,  and  I  mean  to  march  for  him,  die  for  him,  or  bear  the 
load  for  him!"  Oh,  Lord  Jesus!  give  us  that  sort  of  religion. 

This  nasty  sort  of  *'  G-ive  me  something  !"  I  despise  it.  I 
have  a  contemj^t  for  you,  and  God  Almighty  has,  too. 

I  tell  you  the  sort  of  faith  I  like.  Here  is  a  fellow  pray- 
ing for  bread;  got  a  hoe  in  his  hand  hoeing  around  that  stalk 
of  corn.  Has  that  fellow  got  any  faith?  Yes,  sir.  By  faith 
he  sees  an  ear  of  corn  that  long  [indicating]  on  that  stalk. 

Pray  "give  me 
^C^;  this  day  my  daily 

E3.       '^^ffi  bread''  atthe  end 

-^^s^  Qf   j^   hoe-handle 

with  a  good-sized 
hoe  on  it.  That 
is  a  good  prayer. 
This  way  we've 
got  of  doing  all 
our  praying  with 
our  tongues — that 
is  the  biggest  mis- 
take ever  made. 
Every  Wednes- 
day night  for  six- 
teen years  there 
have  been  meet- 
ings here  pray- 
ing, "Lord,  give 
me  something." 
ISTow,  what  have 
you  got?  You've  got  a  city  absolutely  steeped  in  guilt  and  in- 
iquity, and  all  the  churches  in  this  city  backed  up  in  a  cor- 
ner like  a  lot  of  little  children  with  a  snake  out  on  the  floor 
afraid  to  move.  You  are  afraid  the  devil  will  jump  on  you 
and  clean  you  out.  While  I  am  here  in  St.  Louis,  God  Al- 
mighty helping  me,  I'll  give  this  old  town  an  airing.  St. 
Louis  as  a  city  don't  care  what  Methodists,  Baptists,  Pres- 
byterians, Episcopalians  or  anybody  else  think.  "We'll 
drink  our  beer  on  Sunday  and  desecrate  the  Sabbath,  and 
run  our  lewd  houses,  and  stick  them  right  up  by  the  side  of 


Mode7'7i  Churches^  Fear  of  the  Devil. 


Let  Your  Light  So  Shine.  37 

your  church,  and  we'll  debauch  and  damn  this  town,  and  we 
dare  you  Christian  churches  or  members  to  open  your 
mouths  !"  Ain't  that  so  ?  Well,  they  have  got  one  little  man 
here  now  they  can't  fight.  !Now,  all  the  decent  j)eople  ought 
to  be  out  of  town  during  the  airing,  for  it's  going  to  be 
odoriferous. 

RELIGION   WITH    A   BACKBONE. 

Obedience !  A  faith  that  works  by  love  and  that  obeys  the 
law  of  God  Almighty.  Obey  God  !  That  is  what  we  want. 
I'd  rather  be  right  and  I'd  rather  do  right  than  be  king.  If 
the  Lord  God  frowns  upoa  me,  what  are  the  smiles  of  this 
world,  and  the  fawnings  of  this  world,  and  wealth  of  this 
world,  if  God's  frown  blights  the  whole  and  lights  upon  all 
earthly  things!  Yanity  of  vanity!  and  all  is  vanity  and 
vexation  of  spirit  !  But  let  the  cannon  boom  and  the  mus- 
kets rattle,  and  let  the  earth  frown  and  the  earth  fight;  but, 
good  Lord,  let  thy  smile  rest  upon  me,  and  show  thy  face, 
and  all  is  bright.  Give  us  a  strong,  sinewy,  muscular  relig- 
ion! ;N"ot  this  little,  effeminate,  weak,  sentimental,  sickly, 
singing  and  begging  sort !  Give  us  a  religion  with  vim  and 
muscle  and  backbone  and  power  and  bravery!  A  great 
many  people  think  that  Christianity  is  just  a  little  hot-bed  of 
effeminacy — fellows  crjnng,  *' Peace  !  peace!  peace!'"'  God 
says,  first  pure  and  then  peaceable;  and  if  you  can  have  peace 
only  at  the  expense  of  purity,  you  had  better  be  in  a  war. 
Going  about  crying,  ''Peace!  peace!"  when  there  is  no  peace; 
and  hell  with  all  its  guns  turned  loose  upon  us,  and  our 
children  falling  by  the  thousands  and  going  to  destruction, 
and  we  wringing  our  hands  and  saying,  "Lord,  send  us 
peace  !"  You  pusillanimous  wretch,  you,  you  ain't  fit  to  live. 

LANGUAGE  FOR  THE  OCCASION. 

I  use  sometimes  strong  words,  but  I  will  tell  you,  you  may 
know  I  am  trying  to  reach  the  case.  Don't  you  get  excited 
now  and  think  things  are  going  to  pieces.  I  tell  you  that 
you  may  save  your  feelings  and  your  condignity  for  other  oc- 
casions. I  am  just  touching  along  in  high  places  this  morn- 
ing.    I  haven't  got  anywhere  yet. 

Obedience  !  Obedience  is  better  than  sacrifice.  I  will  tell 
you  another  thing,  that,  more  and  more,  this  world  is  reach- 
ing to  attain  every  day.  It  does  not  ask  what  Church  a  man 
belongs  to.  It  asks,  "Are  you  honest?  do  you  tell  the  truth  ? 


38  Let  Your  Light  So  Shine. 

do  you  love  your  religion  ?"  They  donH  ask  what  sort  of  a 
profession  he  has  made,  but  they  ask  now,  "Has  he  a  good 
character  ?''  I  like  that.  That  is  coming  down  to  facts. 
Obedience  !  An  obedience  that  marches  out  to  the  front,  and 
marches  with  the  battle-cry  of '^Yictory  or  death!"  An 
obedience  that  dares  to  go,  and  dares  to  suffer,  and  dares  to 
do.  That  is  what  we  want.  Now  let  your  faith  and  love  and 
obedience  "so  shine"  among  men — "so  shine." 

Ah,  me  !  how  this  world  gropes  In  darkness  to-day  !  And 
I  will  tell  you  of  what  the  Church  reminds  me  in  its  move- 
ment through  the  world  to-day  :  it  is  of  one  of  these  night 
freight  trains — did  you  ever  see  one  ? — out  on  the  road,  the 
headlight  gathering  the  rays  of  the  lamp  and  pitching  them 
all  in  front  of  the  train  ;  and  they  put  a  little  light  blue  or 
red  lamp  on  the  rear  car,  and  leave  all  in  the  rear  cars  in 
darkness.  The  Church  does  just  about  the  same  thing.  They 
put  a  headlight  to  throw  light  ahead,  and  leave  a  little  col- 
ored light  for  sinners  to  travel  by.  Every  Church  is  look- 
ing out  for  themselves,  and  every  light  they  get  they  throw 
it  on  their  own  pathway;  and,  away  back  in  the  rear  of  the 
Church,  they  put  a  little  lantern,  and  leave  the  world  grop- 
ing in  darkness.  Oh,  God,  helpusto  undo  these  things  ;  and, 
if  we  have  to  grope  in  darkness,  God  help  us  to  throw  what 
light  we  have  back  on  this  benighted  world. 
Let  your  light  so  shine. 

Frequently,  when  our  Savior  was  talking,  he  seemed  to 
ransack  our  language  for  an  adjective  or  descriptive  for 
what  he  wanted  to  say.  He  found  nothing  to  suit,  and  he 
would  throw  off  an  adverb  like  this  "  so."  When  he  want- 
ted  to  tell  us  how  God  loved  the  world,  he  threw  all  descrip- 
tives  aside,  and  said,  "  God  so  loved  the  world ;"  and  when 
he  wanted  to  tell  us  to  let  our  light  shine,  he  said,  "Let  your 
light  50  shine  that  those  behind  you  may  see  the  way  to  God." 

I  saw  this  illustrated  one  dark  night  at  a  church  in  Georgia. 
After  service  we  walked  out,  and  the  darkness  could  almost 
be  felt,  so  dense  it  was;  and  a  gentleman  came  out  of  the 
church  with  one  of  those  large  reflecting  lanterns;  when  he 
turned  the  lantern  in  front  of  him,  everybody  in  front  could 
see  just  as  if  it  was  daylight,  and  everybody  in  the  rear  was 
in  darkness  ;  and  when  he  turned  his  lantern  around,  every- 
body in  the  rear  could  see  perfectly,  and  every  one  in  front 


•  Let  Your  Light  So  Shine.  39 

was  groping  in  darkness.  And  God  says  to  the  church, 
*'  Gather  all  the  rays,  and  reflect  them  back  on  this  benight- 
ed world,  and  show  them  the  way  to  God."  That  is  what 
we  want. 

PLACES  WHERE  LIGHTS  WILL  NOT  BURN. 

Let  your  light  so  shine    *    *    -J?-.    No  man  lighteth  a  candle  and  putteth 
it  under  a  bushel,  but  on  a  candlestick. 

There  are  some  places  where  physical  light  won't  reflect 
at  jfll.  I  recollect  once  my  father  had  two  Irishmen  dig  a 
well,  and  they  got  it  about  fifty  or  sixty  feet  deep,  and  he 
paid  them  up  on  Saturday;  and,  like  most  of  the  Paddies  then 
— the  well-digging  Paddies — they  went  on  a  spree  away  into 
the  next  week;  when  they  came  back,  they  asked  my  moth- 
er for  a  candle,  and  I  said,  ''Well,  Paddy  is  not  sober  enough 
yet;  he  wants  a  candle  to  dig  the  well  with.''  He  got  a 
rope  and  tied  the  candle  to  the  end,  and  let  it  down  into  the 
well;  and  it  got  down  deeper  and  deeper,  until  the  light 
flickered  and  went  out;  and  Paddy  said,  ''  Mike,  it  is  dan- 
gerous to  go  down  there;  there  is  gas  in  the  well;"  and 
then  they  got  some  pine  tops,  tied  them  together,  and  let 
them  up  and  down  until  the  light  burned  freely  to  the  bot- 
tom; then  he  said,  "It's  all  right,  now." 

Keep  your  lamps  trimmed.  There  are  some  places-in  this 
world  where  your  light  won't  burn,  and  I  tell  you  that  the 
best  thing  in  the  world  is  to  get  your  preacher  and  your  Bi- 
ble,  and  put  them  down  ahead  of  you  and  see  how  they  will 
look  down-there.  Try  your  lightin  aball-room,  for  instance. 
It  will  go  out.  It  won't  burn  there.  See  that  Methodist 
dodging  into  a  bar-room,  with  his  light.  I  don't  care  how 
bright  it  was  burning  when  j^ou  went  in,  it  is  out  when  you 
come  out.  Red  liquor  and  Christianity  won't  stay  in  the 
same  hide  at  the  same  time.  Go  into  a  theatre  and  come 
back  and  look  at  your  light.     That  is  it. 

A  QUESTION  or  SENSE  AND  RESPONSIBILITY. 

Oh,  my!  "When  I  was  pastor,  whenever  I  saw  anything 
that  was  putting  the'light  out  in  my  church  or  damaging  the 
spirituality  of  my  church,  I  turned  all  the  guns  of  heaven 
loose,  and  if  Dr.  Tudor  has  dancing,  theater-going,  godless 
members,  it  is  his  own  fault,  and  God  will  hold  him  re- 
3poiisible  for  it.    I  would  not  have  that  sort  of  cattle  in  my 


Let   Your  Light  So  Shine. 


41 


Church  forty-eight  hours.  That  is  a,  Scriptural  term, 
"cattle''  is;  douH  forget  that.  G-od  says  some  of  you  ain't  as 
good  as  cattle.  Grod  says :  "The  ox  knoweth  his  owner 
and  the  ass  his  master's  crib."  But  you  won't  consider. 
You  ain't  got  sense  enough  to  keep  away  from  a  bar-room 
or  a  theater.  God  tells  you  you  ought  to  swap  places  with 
the  ox,  and  eat  a  little  hay. 

Let  your  light  so  shine. 
I  tell  5'ou,  brother,  sister,  the  next  time  you  start  to  the 
ball-room  you  put  your  preacher  in  there  and  get  him  a 
partner,  and  see  how  he  will  look  in  there  dancing;  put  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  by  you  in  a  theater  and  see  how  he  looks 
at  certain  things  said  in  that  theater ;  and  there  are  Metho- 
dists in  this  house,  and  members  in  all  the  churches  that 
patronize  those  places,  and  if  they  were  to  go  intoyourpar- 
lor  the  next  day  and  say  the  things  they  heard  there  the 
night  before,  you  would  kick  them  over  your  front  gate — 
wouldn't  you?  Somehow  or  another,  the  fool  Methodist 
thinks  he  ain't  doing  any  harm  if  he  is  paying  for  it.  If  he 
pays  seventy-five  cents  to  go  in  there  it  is  no  harm,  but  if  a 
fellow  was  to  come  to  his  house  and  say  that  for  nothing 
he  would  kick  him  out. 

A  MORTGAGED  NOSE. 

And  there  are  women  in 
St.  Louis  that  will  go  and 
hear  things  in  the  theater 
whose  tendencies  are  the 
most  vulgar  of  the  vulgar, 
and  she  will  be  tickled  all 
over;  and  she  will  come 
to  the  church,  and  she  will 
have  her  poor  little  nerves 
all  shocked  to  pieces  at 
something  Sam  Jones  says, 
and  she  will  turn  up  her 
nose  at  me;  and  I  can 
always  tell  when  the 
devil  has  got  a  mort- 
gage on  a  woman's  nose. 
It  is  always   turning   up. 


The  Mortgaged  Nose. 


And   he  is  going  to  foreclose    on  it   some   one    of   these 


42 


Let  Your  Light  So  Shine. 


days,  too,  sister,  and  he  will  get  the  gal  when  he  gets  the 
nose. 

I  am  glad  to  see  that  there  is  some  response  out  of  you 
all.  I  can  tolerate  anything  but  a  dead  Church.  You  all 
can  laugh,  and  that  shows  you  are  not  dead,  to  say  the  least. 
I  want  to  get  your  hide  loosened  up.  Sometiriies  the  curry- 
comb is  worth  more  than  the  corn  in  a  hide-bound  Church, 
to  loosen  them  up,  and  to  let  them  go. 
Dr.  Tudor.     Amen. 

Brother  Jones.  Brother  Tudor  says, ''Amen."  He  knows 
what  he  is  talking  about.  Take  an  old 
hide-bound  ox  out  in  Texas  in  March, 
and  you  can  catch  hold  of  his  hide 
upon  his  back,  and  you  can  pull  it, 
and  it  will  make  him  hop  like  a 
monkey  ;  and  he  will  not  grow  until 
you  loosen  him  up.  We  need  loosen- 
ing up.  I  am  glad  to  see  you  have 
some  response  in  you.  I  like  folks  that 
have  got  some  laugh  in  them.  There  is 
nothing  to  be  done  with  a  dead  crowd. 

AN  ACTIVE  SPIRIT  ! 

Oh,  my!  how  we  lack  that  in  this  city  !  I'll  tell  you.  Pull 
hard,  one  heart  with  another,  catching  fire.  See  those  jets 
along  the  streets — those  lamps.  The  lamp-lighter  goes  from 
one  of  them  to  another,  and  then  to  another,  and  on  and  on,  un- 
til at  last  ray  meets  ray  and  light  meets  light  and  the  whole 
city  is  lighted  up.  Brother,  let  us  get  our  hearts  on  fire  and  let 
it  leap  heart  to  heart  and  home  to  home,  until  the  whole  city 
is  afire  with  the  love  of  the  Spirit  of  Grod.  We  said  this  light 
is  an  active  principle ;  it  will  put  us  to  work.  A  few  hours 
ago  this  world  was  asleep ;  it  was  dark.  Oh,  how  the  world 
sleeps  when  it  is  dark.  Darkness  is  the  emblem  of  inactiv- 
ity, sleepiness  and  death;  light  is  the  active  principle.  I^ow, 
a  few  hours^ago  the  oxen  were  lying  down  peaceably  and 
asleep,  the  birds  perched  upon  the  limbs  of  the  trees  and  all 
humanity  asleep.  Now  God  wants  to  wake  up  this  world 
and  put  it  in  motion.  What  will  he  do  ?  Go  over  there  on  the 
hillside  and  strike  that  old  ox  on  the  head?  And  will  he  come 
over  here  and  shake  the  boughs  to   wake  up  these  birds? 


Sam  Jones'  FavoHte 
ImpleTnent. 


Let  Your  Light  So  Shine,  43 

And  will  he  go  to  my  front  door  and  knock  to  wake  me  up  ? 
No,  sir  !  When  God  wants  to  wake  this  world  up,  he  just 
lets  the  sun  peep  over  the  hills,  and  now  we  see  the  birds 
singing,  and  the  oxen  feeding,  and  humanity  going  on  in  a 
driving  roar  and  rush.  And  when  God  shall  turn  the  light 
of  his  Spirit  loose  upon  us  in  this  town,  you  will  see  ac- 
tivity and  all  things  moving  up.  It's  darkness  and  death 
that  surround  us.     That  is  the  trouble. 

A  DEVELOPING  PRINCIPLE. 
Let  3'our  light  so  shine. 

An  active  principle  to  put  us  to  work,  and  it  is  not  only 
an  active  principle,  but  it  is  a  developing  principle.  Oh,  my, 
when  light  and  labor  bear  in  upon  the  right  together,  how 
there  is  development,  development,  growth,  growth! 

And  I  will  tell  you  another  thing:  It  is  grow  or  die.  There 
is  no  alternative  but  that.  It  is  grow  or  die,  and  the  only 
way  I  can  grow  is  to  work.  It  is  work,  or  die !  How  many 
Christian  people  in  this  community,  if  you  were  to  get  them 
to  write  out  the  history  of  their  lives,  of  all  they  have  done 
for  Christ  in  ten  years,  members  of  your  Church,  perhaps, 
would  be  ashamed  to  write  it,  and  in  disgust  would  drop 
down  on  theirknees.  ^' What  have  I  done  ?'^  Work  is  the  de- 
veloping principle.  A  great  many  in  this  world  say,  "  Well, 
what  can  I  do?  "What  can  I  do?''  Well, brothers,  sometime 
ago  at  Chattanooga,  I  was  going  out  on  the  Memphis  and 
Charleston  Railroad,  and  I  walked  around  the  great  engine 
that  was  going  to  pull  us  out  in  a  few  minutes,  and  as  I  did  so 
I  saw  the  engineer  jump  off  his  engine  with  one  of  those 
long  necked  oil  cans  in  his  hand  to  oil  the  machinery,  first 
one  part  and  then  another.  I  saw  him  oil  the  driving  wheel 
the  piston  rod,  the  rock-around  and  the  steam  che5-t.  I  saw 
him  going  from  one  piece  of  machineiy  to  the  other,  and  I 
thoughtthisway  :  "Well,  if  I  was  any  part  of  that  grand  en- 
gine, I'd  like  to  be  the  driving  wheel;  there  is  the  secret  of  the 
great  speed.  If  I  could  not  be  the  driving  wheel,  I'd  like  to 
be  the  truck  and  roll  ahead  of  all  the  rest;  and  if  I  could  not 
be  that,  I'd  like  to  be  the  steam  chest,  where  the  power  is  lo- 
cated;" and  I  noticed  that  every  part  of  that  machinery  got 
oil  out  of  the  same  can,  whether  it  be  the  big  piece  or  little; 
and  I  want  to  tell  you  to-day,  that,  out  of  God's  great  reser- 
voir of  grace,  whether  you    be  a  big  worker  or  a  little 


44  Let    Your  Light  So  Shine. 

worker,  you  get  oil  out  of  the  same  cau;   and  I  want  the  spir- 
it of  consecration  to  possess  your  church,  Brother  Tudor. 
Dr.  Tudor.     Amen  ! 

THE  NECESSITY  FOR    FUEL. 

Brother  Jones.     In  G-eorgia  we  have  a  little  Methodist 
minister.     He  ain't  any  bigger  than  I  am.  There  is  only  one 
trouble  with  him  j  that  is,  he  is  parsimonious;    he   is  very 
sting}^  "With  that  exception  he  is  a  grand  man.  He  is  worth 
$20,000,  and  we  can't  get  but  $1,500  a  year  outof  himfor  God 
and  religion;  but  with  the  exception  of  that  one  thing  of 
stinginess,  he  is  a  grand  man.     He  is  worth  $20,000,  and  he 
won't  give  but  $1,500  every  year  for  the  cause  of  God  !    You 
have  got  one  Methodist  in  St.  Louis — 3^ou  may  have  a  thous- 
and— but  you  have  got  one  Methodist  in  St.  Louis  that  i-s  an 
honor  to  G-od  and  a  blessing  to  this  city.     I  say  you  may 
have  a  thousand,  but  I  say  you  have  got  one.  I  heard  of  him 
before  I  got  here.     I  heard  of  him  afar  off.     Well,  we  had  a 
talking  meeting  in  Trinity  Church — I  started  on  an  engine, 
the  different  parts  of  the  engine,  the  great  engine   of  the 
Church,  its  various  machinery — and   one   brother   got  up. 
Said  he,  *'  Brethren,  I'd  like  to  be  the  boiler   of  the  great 
engine,  where  the  power  is  generated."     Another  said,  "I'd 
like  to  be  the  cow-catcher,  the  fender,  and  keep  the  way 
clear.     Another  said  he  would  like  to  be  the  headlight  and 
throw  his  rays  ahead  ;  another  said  he  would  like  to  be  the 
whistle  and  sound  the  praises  of  God  all  over  the  country; 
and  another  said  he  would  like  to  be  the  cab  to  protect  the  en- 
gineer.  And  so  on  they  went;  and  directly  this  little  Meth- 
odist got  up.     Said  he,  "Brethren,  I  am  perfectly  willing  to 
be  the  old,  black  coal  they  pitch  into  the  furnace  to  burn  up 
and  carry  us  on  to  glory!"     Oh,  if  we  had  some  of  that  sort 
that  are  willing  to  be  the  old  black  coal  which  shall  burn 
out  and  generate  heat!  We  decrease,  but  God  increases.  Oh, 
G-od!  If  necessary  to  pull  this  train  to  heaven,  let  me  be 
the  coal,  and  let  me  be  consumed  to  save  the   city,  whether 
I  am  consumed  or  not. 

VERY  MUCH  IN  EARNEST. 

Brethren,  I  have  been  just  as  serious  in  this  service  as  you 
would  permit  me.  You  got  about  what  you  came  for,  and 
you  will  always  get  that.  Going  to  church  is  like  going 
shopping.     A  sister  goes  into   this  magnificent  dry  goods 


Let  Your  Light  So  Shine. 


45 


store;  there  are  $200,000  worth  of  goods  in  it,  but  she  buys 
her  paper  of  pins  and  goes  out.  That^s  all  she  came  for — 
just  a  paper  of  pins.  And  you  know  it  is  a  good  deal  this 
way  about  going  to  church.  We  get  what  we  come  for.  I 
have  said  just  what  you  expected  me  to  say  —  that  is  all. 
That  is  all  I  aimed  to  do — to  give  you  what  you  came  for.  I 
always  throw  a  few  bones  without  any  meat  on,  and  in  as 
large  a  crowd  as  this  there  are  always  some  dogs  that  want 
a  few  bones.  I  throw  them  a  few  bones  for  them  to  gnaw 
ari  growl  at.  They  will  growl,  you  know,  and  when  you 
hear  any  one  growl,  let  him  alone;  you  know  it  is  a  dog, 
and  just  let  him  growl.  And  if  you  see  one  fellow  running 
and  hollering,  you  know  that  it  is  a  hit  dog.  Let  him  alone, 
for  if  he  is  not  hit,  what  is  he  hollering  for?  That  is  the 
point  with  me,  and  we  just  go  on  our  way.  Some  of  you 
would  not  preach  like  I  do;  you  have  your  ways  and  meth- 
ods; and  I  tell  you  I  am  willing  to  swap  fishing  tackle  with 
any  fellow  whose  string  of  fish  is  bigger  than  mine;  but  I 
want  to  see  the  string  of  fish  before  I  swap  tackle  with  him. 
One  preacher  told  me  he  got  down  on  his  knees  one 
evening  and  prayed  to  heaven 
to  G-od  Almighty  to  straighten 
out  Brother  Jones  and  to 
change  him  in  a  few  things, 
and  that  he  would  then  be  a 
good  preacher.  He  prayed  un- 
til about  sundown,  and  got  off 
his  knees  ;  and  the  Lord  seem- 
ed to  say  to  him,  ''Well,  I 
heard  you  praying  for  Jones; 
but  if  I  ^s  to  take  those 
things  away  from  him,  he 
would  be  no  more  account  than  you  are.''  He  said  it  almost 
scared  him  to  death,  and  he  has  not  prayed  on  that  line  since. 

TRADING  riSHINQ  TACKLE. 

And  when  any  of  you  all  have  a  bigger  string  of  fish  be- 
hind your  fishing  tackle,  I  will  trade  with  any  fellow;  but 
until  you  find  more  fish  I  will  not  trade.  You  come  in  and 
help  me,  and  God  will  bless  the  work,  and  we'll  all  rejoice 
together  and  bring  our  fish  home  together.  May  the  Lord 
encourage  you  to-day  to  do  great  things.      Something  tells 


Praying  the  Lord  to  Change 
Sam  Jones. 


4G  Let   Your  Light  So  Shine, 

me  we  will  take  in  thousands  of  souls  during  these  meet- 
ings. You  may  say,  "Well,  it  don't  look  like  there  can  be 
anything  done/'  Well,  brother,  that  old  ram's  horn  was  a 
peculiar  thing  to  tear  down  the  walls  of  Jericho  with,  wasn't 
it?  But,  sir,  it  did  it.  And  that  is  what  we  can  hope  to  do. 
We'll  do  it.  Let  us  take  these  things,  and  let  us  not  think 
I  what  part  and  lot  we  have  got  in  these,  and  talk  about  oth- 
(ers.  If  you  are  against  me,  talk  the  more.  I'd  as  soon  you 
would  throw  mud  at  me  as  to  praise  me.  I  don't  want  any 
one  to  do  that.  Just  say  as  much  against  me  as  for  me,  and 
if  you  hear  any  one  down  town  bark,  let  him  bark.  So 
come  back  this  afternoon.  At  2:30  Brother  Small  will 
preach,  and  to-night,  the  Lord  willing,  I  will  preach  again, 
and  three  times  straight  along  every  day,  at  10:30,  2.30  and 
7:30.     I  am  very  much  in  earnest. 

MUST    HAVE    CO-OPERATION. 

I  have  no  time  to  throw  away.  If  you  want  me  and  are 
willing  to  work,  I  am  your  man,  God  helping  me;  but  to- 
morrow morning,  if  3^ou  are  not  here  at  10:30  o'clock,  I  will 
not  be  here  to-morrow  night.  There  is  a  train  goes  awa^^, 
you  know,  in  the  evening,  just  before  the  meeting.  If  you 
ain't  here  to-morrow  morning  at  10:30  o'clock,  and  you 
meet  anybody  to-morrow  evening,  and  they  ask  you  if 
you  were  here,  and  you  say,  No,  and  they  ask  you  why, 
don't  you  tell  'em  any  lie.  You  tell  'em  it  was  because  you 
didn't  want  to  come.  Because,  I  can  take  one  thousand 
$100  bills  every  morning  and  fill  this  church  up,  and  give 
every  fellow  a  hundred  dollars  that  will  come.  That  will 
fill  up  every  seat  here,  and  every  street  for  a  mile  around, 
if  they'll  get  a  hundred  dollars.  If  you  come  for  one  hun- 
dred  dollars,  you  ought  to  come  for  the  salvation  of  jour 
Bouls.  I  am  in  earnest.  Trust  in  God,  give  him  all  the 
glory.  I  want  to  see  a  gracious  meeting  here;  believe  me, 
we  will.  The  sooner  we  take  hold,  the  better.  The  time  is 
short,  and  may  God  Almighty  inspire  us  to  great  faith  and 
great  works. 


^EF^MON  II. 
^I^ACE    AJND    ^y^LV/iTlOJM. 


For  the  grace  of  God  that  bringeth  salvation  hath  appeared  unto  all  men, 
teaching  us  that  denying  ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts,  we  should  live  so- 
berly, righteously  and  godly,  in  this  present  world. — Titus  2  ;  11  and  12. 

REDEEMED    BY   THE    DIVINE    BLOOD. 

<<Tf>^/'E  are  not  redeemed/^  said  the  apostle,  by  corrupti- 
W  ble  things,  such  as  gold  and  silver,  but  by  the  precious 
blood  of  the  Son  of  God.''  When  that  precious  blood  came 
gushing  from  his  side  the  recording  angel  dipped  his  pen  in 
that  blood  and  in  heaven's  chancery  wrote  on  mercy's  page: 
"  Peace  on  earth  and  good  will  to  men."  The  grace  of  God 
that  bringeth  salvation,  not  the  grace  of  God  that  makes 
me  feel  that  I  am  a  sinner;  not  the  grace  of  God  that  saves 
me  from  sin,  but  the  grace  of  God  that  bringeth  ^'  salvation" 
in  all  of  its  incomprehensible  sense,  hath  unto  all  men  appear- 
ed. I  am  so  glad  that  I  can  put  my  eyes  on  this  book  and 
lay  my  hand  on  my  heart  and  say,  I  believe  that  Jesus  died 
forme  personally;  that  he  died  for  my  precious  wife;  that  he 
died  for  each  one  of  my  children.  He  died  not  for  me  only, 
but  for  you  and  your  wife  and  children,  and  your  children's 
children  to  all  generations.  Oh,  I  am  so  glad  this  work  is 
reaching  a  right  conclusion;  that  God  is  not  mad  with  any- 
body ;  that  he  loves  the  bad  man  as  well  as  the  best  man.  I 
am  so  glad  the  pulpit  has  got  where  it  can  look  up  to  God, 
whi)  is  the  author  of  pulpits,  and  say,  "Jesus  Christ  tasted 
death  for  every  man."  O,  what  a  truth  !  God  not  only  wills 
the  salvation  of  all  mankind,  but  he  has  provided  for  the 
salvation  of  each  individual.  I  believe  if  it  were  possible  to 
find  one  immortal  soul  for  whom  Jesus  did  not  di^,  that 
Jesus  would  leave  heaven,  and  come  back  and  suffer  again  on 
Calvary  for  that  one  immortal  soul.  'No  man  was  ever  doom- 
ed to  death  and  hell  that  did  not  have  a  good  chance  to  get 
to  heaven,  and  about  all  any  man  can  claim  is  one  good 
chance  to  get  to  heaven.  A  refusal  to  accept  that  chance 
47 


48  Grace  and  Salvation, 

ought  to  bring  eternal  damnation.  A  great  many  men  think 
that  about  all  religion  is  for  is  to  prepare  them  in  some  mys- 
terious way  for  a  happy  death  and  a  home  by-and-by  in 
heaven,  and  really  we  have  wasted  about  nine-tenths  of  our 
time  thinking  of  a  home  over  yonder  in  the  promised  land. 
I  have  quit  thinking  about  a  heaven  over  yonder.  I  want  it 
right  here  in  Missouri.  It  is  like  preaching  everlastingly  for 
heavenly  recognition.  I  tell  them  I  want  earthly  recogni- 
tion. I  want  to  be  recognized  here.  When  I  get  to  heaven 
and  have  a  crown  on  my  head,  and  a  harp  in  my  hand,  and  am 
a  heavenly  millionaire,  you  need  not  recognize  me.  I  do  not 
want  it  then.  I  want  earthly  recognition  ;  I  want  heaven 
here )  I  want  to  shun  hell  in  St.  Louis,  although  there  is  a 
good  deal  of  it  to  the  square  inch  here.  Let  us  quit  this  ev- 
erlasting harping  about  heaven  and  hell  hereafter.  Let  us 
talk  about  heaven  and  hell  down  here  in  our  midst,  for  1  de- 
clare that  no  man  will  ever  go  to  heaven  until  by  some 
means  he  manufactures  him  a  little  heaven  to  go  to  heaven 
in;  and  no  man  will  ever  go  to  hell  until  he  generates 
enough  brimstone  to  go  with. 

THE    TRANSFORMATION. 

Some  talk  about  angels  carrying  souls  to  heaven.  When 
a  soul  goes  to  heaven  it  outstrips  the  speed  of  angel's  wings; 
but  there  are  some  of  j^ou  who  would  never  get  to  heaven 
unless  some  angel  band  should  take  you  there.  To  get  to 
heaven  you  have  got  to  either  turn  or  back  up  into  the  gold- 
en gates.  There  is  no  doubt  about  that.  There  is  too  much 
heart  religion  in  this  world.  It  is  generally  locked  in  the 
heart  and  never  seen  upon  the  surface.  Eeligion  is  as  much 
a  thing  of  the  head,  of  the  foot,  of  the  tongue  and  of  the 
brain  as  it  is  of  the  heart.  If  I  could  only  have  rejigion  in 
one  place  I  would  have  it  in  my  right  hand,  so  that  I  could 
go  out  and  do  something  for  Christ.  There  is  nothing  in 
heart  religion,  and  I  have  told  our  colored  brethren  down 
South  that  they  have  run  this  heart  religion  until  many  of 
them  have  run  themselves  into  a  hen  roost.  There  is'  grace 
enough  in  this  universe  for  every  man  of  us  to  have  every 
square  inch  of  him  full  of  grace.  I  have  a  contempt  for  heart 
religion.  There  are  people  who  are  afraid  to  say  anything 
about  their  religion.  They  are  afraid  of  being  ranked  as 
Pharisees.     I  have  seen  a  great  many  different  characters, 


Grace  and  Salvation,  49 

but  I  never  saw  a  Pharisee.  I  reckon  that  if  Dr.  Tudor  had 
one  in  his  congregation  he  would  make  him  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees.  A  Pharisee  would  give  one-tenth  ofall  he 
had  to  Grod;  he  would  fast  once  a  week  and  perform  other 
sacrifices.  There  is  not  one  of  you  who  need  be  uneasy  or 
afraid  of  being  set  down  as  a  Pharisee.  There  is  no  use  talk- 
ing about  grace  taking  us  to  heaven  as  we  are.  There  is 
many  a  fellow,  if  ho  could  get  to  heaven  as  he  is,  who  would 
not  be  there  long  until  there  would  be  confusion. 

A  MORTGAGE  ON  HEAVEN. 

Take  a  money-monger,  one  of  those  20  joer  cent,  fellows  ;  if 
he  were  to  be  let  into  heaven,  he  would  set  up  immediately 
on  a  corner  lot  and  have  a  mortgage  on  half  of  heaven.  I  am 
glad  God  Almighty  will  not  let  such  men  into  heaven.  Take 
one  of  those  old  demijohns  and  carry  him  to  heaven  as  he  Is. 
When  he  would  awake  next  morning  the  first  thing  he 
would  want  would  be  a  drink,  and  if  there  was  a  low  place 
in  the  fence  he  would  jump  over  it,  repair  to  the  nearest 
bar-room  and  be  back  again  before  breakfast.  Heaven  is  a 
prepared  place  for  the  prepared.  Jesus  said  :  ''  I  go  to  pre- 
pare a  place  for  you.^'  My  only  concern  is,  shall  1  be  pre- 
pared to  live  in  such  a  home  ns  he  shall  make  for  me.  It  is 
said  that  the  great  trouble  Avith  the  nineteenth  century  re- 
ligion is  that  the  truth  is  not  preached.  There  has  not 
been  a  sermon  preached  during  the  past  fifty  years  that  has 
not  contained  enough  truth  to  save  every  man,  woman  and 
child  in  Christendom.  "What  is"  the  trouble,  then?  No 
one  has  any  room  for  truth.  Every  fellow  is  chock-full  of 
his  own  opinions.  One  says,  ''It  is  my  opinion  that  there 
is  no  harm  in  a  social  game  of  cards,  if  you  do  not  bet." 
Another  will  say,  "It  is  my  opinion  there  is  no  harm  in 
going  to  the  theatre."  Another 
will  say,  ''It  is  my  opinion  I  can 
live  out  of  the  church  and  be 
just  as  good  as  I  can  be  in  the 
church."  I  assert  that  no  man 
has  a  right  to  an  opinion  on  a 
moral  question.  The  only  way 
to  tell  whether  a  man  is  crook-  The  Bible  StraiQht-Edge  Test. 
ed  or  straight,  is  to  put  the  straight  edge  to  him.  It 
is  no   use   standing   up   like  a  fool  and  guessing  whether 


50  Grace  and  Salvation, 

he  is  crooked  or  straight.  Here  is  the  straight-edge 
[pointing  to  the  Bible].  I  don't  say  a  man  has  not  a 
right  to  his  opinions  on  doctrinal  questions,  but  the  constant 
iteration  of  ''It  is  my  opinion/'  by  professing  Christians, 
is  crushing  the  life  out  of  the  Church  and  damning  the 
world. 

THE    WHISKY   DRINKERS. 

I  can  sort  of  put  up  with  a  fellow  who  drinks  whisky,  if 
he  hangs  his  head  down  like  a  dog;  but  when  he  holds  his 
head  up  and  says  he  likes  to  drink  it,  I  have  a  contempt  for 
him.  I  can  put  up  with  a  Methodist  who  goes  to  the  the- 
ater, if  he  wears  a  hang-dog  look;  but  if  he  gets  up  and 
argues  for  it,  I  would  not  wipe  my  feet  on  him.  I  can  sort 
of  put  up  with  a  member  of  the  church  when  he  plays  cards, 
but  when  he  advocates  card-playing  I  have  a  contempt  for 
him.  I  have  as  much  contempt  for  a  member  of  a  church 
that  does  these  things  as  I  have  for  a  Georgia  chain-gang 
negro,  and  that  is  pretty  tough.  A  man  once  asked  me  how 
long  it  had  been  since  I  was  at  a  theater.  I  told  him  I  had 
not  been  at  the  theater  since  I  had  quit  being  a  vagabond. 
But  I  am  glad  we  have  theaters,  because  they  draw  the 
line.  A  man  in  my  own  town  once  said  to  me  :  "If  you  will 
convince  me  it  is  wrong  to  play  cards,  I  will  never  touch 
them  again."  I  replied  :  ''There  is  one  thing  you  are  already 
convinced  of,  that  you  are  of  no  account  in  your  church. 
"Yes,"  he  said,  "I  know  that."  "Then,"  I  returned,  "if  you 
are  of  no  account  in  your  church  I  have  no  time  to  fool  away 
with  you,"  and  I  walked  off  and  left  him.  When  a  man  is 
of  no  account  in  his  church  it  is  of  no  use  trying  to  convince 
him  of  anything.  Such  men  should  examine  themselves  and 
shun  the  sins  that  render  them  of  no  account.  It  is  not  the 
lying,  thieving  and  drunken  members  of  the  church  that  do 
the  most  harm,  but  it  is  the  tide  of  worldliness  that  is 
sweeping  over  the  people  and  paralyzing  their  Christian 
life,  and  ruining  their  children,  about  whom  a  bulwark  of 
sin  is  being  erected  which  the  Grospel  cannot  overreach, 

CONTEMPT  FOR  THE  COLONELS. 

I  have  the  profoundest  contempt  for  those  colonels  and 
majors  and  judges  who  grace  our  curbstones  and  saloons. 
They  have  nothing  to  commend  them  to  God  but  their  money 


Grace  and  Salvation,  51 

and  their  means.  If  there  is  anybody  I  want  to  see  go  to 
heaven  it  is  poor  white  folks  and  niggers.  The  colonels 
and  those  big  fellows  who  have  had  such  a  good  time  here, 
can  sort  of  afford  to  go  to  hell.  We  can't.  When  the  colonel 


"  Colonels  and  Judges  and  Majors  Who  Gr-ace  Ou?"  Cu7'b-sto7ies 
and  Saloons.^' 
says,  ^'It's  my  opinion/'  he  claims  that  his  opinions  are 
original  with  him.  They  are  not.  He  got  them  from  hell, 
and  they  are  going  back  to  hell  if  they  take  the  old  colonel 
with  them.  If  there  is  anything  I  hate,  and  hate  with  a  bit- 
ter and  uncompromising  hatred,  it  is  whisky.  It  blights 
the  world,  demoralizes  society,  damns  souls  and  peoples 
hell  with  immortal  beings.  We  talk  about  pitching  into 
revival  work  here,  and  at  best  we  shall  bring  but  two  thou- 
sand five  hundred  or  three  thousand  souls  to  God,  while  there 
are  one  thousand  eight  hundred  saloons  hero  damning  the 
city  week  after  week.  We  need  some  old-fashioned  preaching. 
The  only  safe  latitude  for  Christians  to  travel  in  is  family 
prayer,  thereading  of  the  Scriptures  and  undying  devotion  to 

4 


52 


Grace  and  Salvation, 


right.  In  the  work  I  have  undertaken  here  I  want  your  co- 
operation. Some  of  you  may  leave  and  say,  "I  can't  endorse 
that  man."  I  don't  want  you  to  endorse  me.  I  don't  think 
it  would  do  me  any  good  to  be  endorsed  by  a  one-horse 
member  of  a  church.  But  I  want  every  clerical  and  lay 
brother  in  a  town  where  we  are  laboring  for  souls  to  come 
and  help  us. 

The  daughter  of  a  well-known  minister  once  said  to 
me,  "  My  father  does  not  believe  in  revivals."  *'  Your 
father  and    the  devil   are   together  in   that,"    I    replied, 

^'I    do   not   know   how  they 
stand  on  other  things." 

I  once  said  to  a  brother 
who  attended  one  of  my 
meetings,  that  his  church 
was  but  the  Lord's  crocheting 
society.  He  went  away  insult- 
ed. I  also  told  him  that  if 
the  Lord  did  not  change  him 
somehow  he  would  not  be  in 
heaven  three  days  before  he 
would  have  all  the  angels 
rigged  out  in  lace.  He  came 
back  a  few  nights  afterwards, 
and,  standing  upon  the  plat- 
form, he  said:  ^'Brother  Jones 
was  right,  and  I  am  wrong.  I 
have  received  a  blessing.  Call 


^^Your  father  and  the  devil  are 
together  in  thatr 

it  what  you  will — getting  religion  or  being  converted — 
I  have  got  it,  I  have  got  it."  There  are  a  good  many 
listening  to  me  who  would  be  a  sight  on  wheels,  hut 
who  are  not  now  worth  killing.  Be  prepared  and  keep 
right. 

The  honor  of  Christ  and  the  salvation  of  our  own  souls 
depend  largely  upon  our  holding  and  practicing  proper 
views  of  the  Scripture.  Ignorance  is  a  sort  of  heterogen- 
eous compound  that  God  nor  man  can  do  much  with.  The 
fact  is,  we  must  know  something  before  we  are  capacitated 
to  do  something,  and  all  intelligent  action  is  based  on  intel- 
ligent thought,  and  there  can  be  no  intelligent  thought  un- 
less, perhaps,  we  know  some  things.     The  man  who  really 


Grace  and  Salvation.  53 

knows  one  thing  well  is  on  the  road  to  know  a  great  many 
things,  and  the  trouble,  perhaps,  with  a  large  mass  of  hu- 
manity, is  they  have  never  known  one  thing  well. 

And  the  grace  of  God  that  bringeth  salvation  hath  appeared  unto  all  men 
teaching  us — 

instructing  us,  qualifying  us.     Teaching  us  what? 

That  denying  ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts  we  should  live  soberly,  right- 
eously and  godly  in  this  present  world. 

NEGATIVE    GOODNESS. 

In  plain  English,  teaching  us,  ^^  Cease  to  do  evil ;  learn  to 
do  well."  Conversion  is  a  very  common  term  in  the  church 
and  in  the  pulpit.  Sometimes  we  use  it  in  a  very  vague 
sense.  Conversion,  scripturally,  means  simply  two  things  : 
1.  "  I  have  quit  the  wrong ; "  2.  ^'  I  have  taken  hold  of  the 
right."  '^o  man  is  scripturally  converted  until  he  throws 
down  the  wrong,  and  walks  off  from  the  wrong,  and  walks 
up  to  the  right  and  espouses  the  cause  of  the  right.  Relig- 
ion is  a  two-fold  principle,  or  rather  it  is  a  principle  that  en- 
ables man  to  discern  the  right  and  to  do  the  right,  to  discern 
the  wrong  and  to  make  him  hate  the  wrong.  There  are  two 
elements  in  every  pious  life:  1.  Negative  goodness;  2.  Pos- 
itive righteousness.  Negative  goodness  is  not  religion.  If 
negativegoodness  was  religion,  then  onjg  of  these  lamp-posts 
out  here  would  be  the  best  Christian  in  town  ;  it  never  curs- 
ed, nor  swore,  nor  drank  a  drop  since  it  was  made ;  it  never 
did  anything  wrong.  If  negative  goodness  is  religion, then 
a  stock,  or  stone,  or  mountain,  would  be  the  best  specimen 
of  Christian  this  world  has.  Negative  goodness  is,  perhaps, 
one  of  the  halves  of  religion  ;  but  genuine  religion,  Christly 
religion,  means  not  only  that  a  man  is  negatively  good,  but 
that  he  is  positively  righteous.  There  is  no  power  in  a  neg- 
ative position  or  in  being  negative.  Christ  Jesus  saw  this, 
when  he  told  his  preachers  to  go  forth  and  affirm  and  preach 
the  gospel — not  to  go  to  denying  the  denials  of  infidelity.  I 
never  uttered  a  sentence  in  my  life  to  prove  that  the  Bible 
was  true.  I  never  spent  five  minutes  in  my  life  trying  to 
prove  there  was  a  hell.  I  never  spent  fifteen  seconds  in  the 
pulpit  in  my  life  trying  to  prove  there  is  a  God.  Nobody  but 
a  fool  needs  such  arguments.  A  man  told  me  once,  '*I 
don't  believe  there  is  a  God.  I  don't  believe  I  am  anything 
but  mortal/'     Said  I,  ^'  If  I  was  you  I  would  get  me  a  little 


54  Grace  and  Salvation, 

more  hair  and  a  tail,  and  be  a  siire  enough  dog — ^I  believe  I 
would." 

NO  POWER  IN  NEGATION. 

There  is,  as  I  said,  no  power  in  a  negative  force,  and  none 
in  a  negative  position  of  any  sort.  We  are  not  sent  forth  to 
deny  anything  that  anybody  says,  but  we  are  sent  forth  to 
affirm  something.  An  aggressive  Christianity  is  always 
affirmative.  I  am  sorry  for  the  preacher  that  has  back- 
slidden far  enough  to  try  to  prove  in  his  sermon  that  there 
is  a  God.  I  am  sorry  for  the  preacher  that  has  got  so  low 
down  in  his  theology  that  he  is  trying  to  establish  the  fact 
that  there  is  a  hell  sure  enough.  I  know  of  men  trying  to 
establish  the  fact  that  there  is  no  hell.  A  gentleman  said  to 
me  the  other  day  that  the  fact  was  nearly  established.  I 
said  to  him,  ^'Whendid  youstartyour  exploring  party  down 
there,  and  when  will  they  return  to  report?"  He  said  he 
hadn't  started  anybody  and  he  wasn't  looking  for  them  to 
return.  Said  I,  ^'How  are  you  going  to  prove  anything, 
then?"  And  I  want  to  tell  you  this  much  :  The  assertions 
of  the  word  of  God  on  all  these  questions  stand  unshaken 
to-day,  and  a  little  colored  child  of  three  yeaas  old  in  this 
city  knows  just  as  much  about  hell  as  any  living  scientist. 
I  suppose  some  of  the  dead  ones  know  more  about  it. 
There's  many  afclfow  that  has  written  hell  out  of  his  theo- 
logy here,  but  he  won't  bo  in  hell  fifteen  seconds  till  he  will 
jump  up  and  say,  ''My  Lord!  What  a  mistake  I  made  in 
my  theology.  There  is  one,  sure  enough."  Bob  Ingcrsoll 
was  speaking  on  one  occasion — I  have  got  a  good  deal  of  re- 
spect for  Bob  Ingersoll — a  great  deal  more  respect  than  I 
have  for  a  great  many  members  of  the  church  in  this  town, 
a  great  deal.  When  Bob  says  he  don't  believe  the  Bible  and 
don't  pay  any  attention  to  its  precepts,  they  say  they  still 
believe  the  Bible,  but  <io  just  like  Bob,  you  see.  I  can't  stand 
that.  And  it  isn't  theoretical  infidelity  that  is  cursing  this 
country  ;  it  is  practical  infidelity — that's  the  sort. 

AN  INGERSOLL  STORY. 

Well,  Ingersoll  was  lecturing — I  believe  it  was  in  Mil- 
waukee— and  in  his  lecture  he  came  to  this  assertion,  and 
while  he  lectured  there  were  sitting  before  him  and  near  to 
the  platform  three  or  four  drunken  men,  talking  in  an  un- 
dertone.    That  crowd  felt  li.^^e  they  ought  to  take  the  amen 


Grace  and  Salvation, 


65 


corners  on  Bob  ;  and  all  I  want  to  know  about  any  fellow  is 
who  takes  the  amen  corners  on  him  ;  and  when  you  find  Bob 
preaching  you  will  find  the  amen  corners  filled  with  old 
red-nosed  drunkards  and  other  vagabonds  of  the  townj  they 
have  rushed  up  and  taken 
the  amen  corners  on  him. 
And  while  Bob  was  lec- 
turing, when  he  reached 
theassertion/'There  is  no 
hell,  and  I  can  prove  it  to 
any  reasonable  man/^  he 
got  the  attention  of  that 
crowd,  of  course.  They 
were  interested  at  this 
point,  and  one  of  them 
straightened  himself  up, 
and  staggering  to  his  feet 
with  a  hiccup  and  a  leer, 
said,  "Can  you,  Bob?"    He  Boh  IngersolVs  Anxious  Enquirer. 

said,  "Yes,  lean."  "Well,"  the  fellow  says,  "do  it.  Bob, 
and  make  it  mighty  strong;"  for,  he  says,  "I  tell  you  nine- 
tenths  of  us  poor  fellows  in  Milwaukee  are  depending  on 
how  you  make  that  thing." 

THE  VALUE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

So  I  say  we  never  need  try  to  prove  any  thing  that  the  Bible 
asserts.  We  are'  to  preach  the  word  to  the  people  and  the 
Bible  will  take  care  of  itself.  The  Bible  was  the  guide  of 
my  mother.  It  was  the  stay  of  my  father's  life;  it  was  a 
lamp  unto  his  feet  and  a  light  unto  his  path,  and  he  be- 
queathed it  to  me  as  his  richest  gift  to  his  wayward  boy; 
and  I  say  to  you  to-night,  take  all  other  things  from  me  and 
my  home,  but  leave  me  my  Bible. 

The  precious  book  I'd  rather  have 

Than  all  the  golden  gems 

That  e'er  in  nionarchs'  coflfers  shone 

Or  on  their  diadems. 

And  wore  the  seas  one  chrysolite, 

This  earth  a  golden  ball, 

And  gems  wer3  all  the  stars  of  night, — 

This  book  were  worth  them  all. 

Ah,  no,  the  soul  ne'er  found  relief 
In  glittering  hoards  of  wealth  j 


56  Grace  and  Salvation. 

Gems  dazzle  not  the  eye  of  grief ; 

Gold  can  not  purchase  health, — 

But  heres  a  blessed  balm 

For  every  human  woe. 

And  they  that  seek  that  book  in  tears, 

Their  tears  shall  cease  to  flow. 

Bless  God  for  the  Bible,  which  is  the  guide  of  my  life  and 
the  inspiration  of  my  soul. 

THE    FORCE    OF    POSITIVISM. 

"We  said  a  moment  ago  that  its  positive  and  negative 
features — these  two  combined — give  it  force  and  power — 
give  Christian  life  force  and  power.  There  is  no  power  in 
electricity  until  you  bring  the  two  forces,  positive  and 
negative,  together.  You  see  that  negative  electricity  gather- 
ing about  the  trunk  of  this  old  oak  tree?  That  tree  has 
withstood  a  thousand  storms,  and  now  we  see  this  negative 
electricity  climbing  up  its  body  and  settling  in  its  foliage, 
and  now  the  positive  electricity  passes  over  it  in  the  cloud, 
and  negative  strikes  positive,  and  the  two  forces  come  to- 
gether in  the  top  of  this  old  oak  tree,  and  it  comes  with  a 
crash  and  splits  that  oak  tree  from  its  topmost  twig  to  the 
last  bottom  of  its  roots.  There's  power.  There's  omnipo- 
tence. And  so  in  the  life  of  every  good  man  who  is  nega- 
tively good  and  positively  righteous.  Look  at  George 
Whitfield  with  his  whole  nature  surcharged  with  negative 
goodness  and  his  life  full  of  positive  righteousness.  We  see 
him  going  out  to  the  Moorfields  of  London  at  three  and  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning  with  ten  thousand  lanterns  blazing 
all  around  him.  George  Whitfield  preaches  the  gospel,  and 
before  daylight  and  sun-up  he  has  a  thousand  penitents  and 
a  thousand  converts,  and  does  more  before  breakfast  in  the 
morning  than  all  the  pulpits  in  London  did  the  year  round. 
That  looks  like  business. 

LAZY    GOODY-GOODY. 

Negative  goodness  !  The  Lord  knows  I  have  a  contempt 
for  the  goody-goody  members  of  the  Church.  Old  Brother 
Goody-Goody  and  old  Sister  Goody-Goody,  just  goody- 
goody,  and  so  good  they  are  good  for  nothing.  Haven't 
you  seen  them  ? 

I  believe  in  doing  good.  I  like  goodness.  I  despise  every 
wicked  act  that  a  man  can  do.     But  I  tell  you  this !    I  have 


Grace  and  Salvation.  67 

had  members,  as  a  pastor,  who  would  work  and  do  their 
level  best,  and  every  three  or  four  months  they  would  get 
drunk  in  spite  of  everything  I  could  do.  When  they  were 
sober,  they  went  up  to  their  eyes  in  religion  and  in  work 
and  righteousness;  and  I  tell  you  I  hate  this  thing  you  call 
drunkenness,  and  no  man  hates  it  more  than  I  do ;  but  I  had 
rather  have  a  member  of  the  church  who  would  get  drunk 
every  three  or  four  months,  but  would  work  when  he  was 
sober  and  do  his  level  best,  than  one  of  these  sober  fellows 
that  ain't  any  account  anyhow,  that  might  just  as  well  be 
drunk  or  just  as  well  be  dead.  Grod  pity  these  lazy,  shift- 
less kind  of  fellows.  All  they  want  in  G-od's  world  is  some- 
where to  sit  down  and  somewhere  to  spit.  Sj)itting  room  is 
a  big  thing  with  lazy  men. 

Now  recollect,  if  anybody  says  they  don't  believe  in 
laughing  in  church,  that  you  are  in  a  music  hall  to-night. 
You  can  just  cut  your  patchin'  on  that  line.  There  ain't  any 
harm  in  laughing  here. 

Teaching  that  we  must  quit  the  wrong — 

That  denying  ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts  we  must  live  soberly,  righteously 
and  godly  in  this  present  world —    ,, 

teaching  me  this  fact;  and  the  first  lesson  Christ  ever  taught 
man  here  was  this:  "You  are  a  sinner;  you  are  a  wrong 
doer;  you  ought  to  cease  to  do  evil;  you  ought  to  forsake 
your  sins." 

CROSSING   THE    RIVER   OF   RESOLUTION. 

And  I  will  say  right  here  at  this  point,  I  could  never 
lay  any  claim  to  the  salvation  of  Jesus  Christ  until  I  bun- 
dled all  my  sins  up  in  one  common  bundle,  and  threw  them 
all  down,  and  walked  over  the  river  of  Resolution,  and  then 
turned  round  and  set  fire  to  the  bridge  and  stood  and 
watched  till  the  last  expiring  spark  dropped  into  the  water; 
and  then  I  turned  my  back  on  sin  and  said,  ^'I  am  in  now 
for  conversion  or  nothing;"  and  I  hadn't  got  fifteen  steps 
from  the  bank  of  that  river  till  I  was  in  the  arms  of  God,  a 
saved  man ;  and  I  say  to  you  to-night — you  men  of  the 
Church  who  say,  ''I  can't  live  without  sin" — that  no  man  ever 
found  God  and  no  man  was  ever  converted  until  he  quit  his 
sins.  That's  all  there  is  about  it.  When  I  stand  up  and 
preach  against  sin  and  sinners,  the  Church  hollers,  ^"Lay 
on,  Macduff.'    G>e  it  to  him.    He  ought  to  have  it."    But 


68 


(j-race  and  Salvaiion. 


when  I  preach  to  the  Church  and  say,  ''You  men  who  pro- 
fess to  bo  Christians,  you  are  living  in  sin,^^  they  say,  ''Oh, 
he's  one  of  these  sanctificationists,  and  he's  putting  on  airs." 


Burning  the  Bridge  Behind  Him. 
You  want  me  to  give   it  to   these  old  sinners,  but  let  you 
alone. 

Ah,  me  !  brother!  If  God  Almighty  expects  these  sinners 
to  quit  sin,  what  does  he  expect  of  you  who  profess  to  love 
him,  who  profess  to  be  Christians?  That's  the  way  to 
talk  it 

PROGRESSIVE    EUCHRE    SHOWN   UP. 

Cease  to  do  evil  and  learn  to  do  well.  I  want  to  say  here 
in  my  place  to-night  that  I  profess  to  know  a  few  things 
along  this  line,  and  propose  to  say  them  to  that  member  of 
the  Church  that  dances  and  attends  theaters  and  plays  pro- 
gressive euchre — and  that's  the  best  named  game  I  ever 
heard — "progressive  euchre!"  Progressive  euchre  double 
quick  to  hell  right  along.  And  I  say  another  thing.  There  is 
no  progressive  euchre  player  in  this  house  that  ought  not  to 
be  indicted  for  violating  the  laws  of  the  State  and  be  put  in 
oneof  the  jails  of  this  county.  How  do  you  like  that  ?,  It  is 
just  gambling  scientifically,  magnificently,  gloriously,  soc- 
ially, and  so  forth.  That's  what  it  is.  And  I'll  tell  you  that 
in  our  State  we  can  indict  a  man  and  put  him  in  the  peni- 
tentiary for  playing  progressive  euchre  with  his  neighbors 
any  time,  and  I  want  to  see  the  day  come,  when,  if  Chris- 
tians haven't  got  faith  enough  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and 
their  profession  to  bind  them  to  decency  and  right,  that  the 


Grrace  and  Salvation.  69 

law  will  help  us  to  make  our  members  decent.     I  do.     I  do, 
sure. 

And  the  man  who  is  running  these  things — Fll  tell  jou 
•\he  truth,  brethren — that  man  never  was  converted,  that 
man  never  has  repented,  that  man  is  still  in  the  bonds  of 
iniquity  and  the  gall  of  bitterness.  You  ask  me  why? 
Well,  I  got  religion  fourteen  years  ago  last  August — I  was 
right  sure  there — and  if  it  did  not  knock  that  card-playing, 
theater-going  system  out  of  me  right  there  !  And  I  never 
got  a  symptom  of  it  since ;  and,  whenever  the  day  comes  in 
my  religious  experience  when  I  want  to  play  cards,  and 
when  I  want  to  drink  whisky,  and  when  I  want  to  attend  the- 
aters, I  want  to  drop  down  on  my  knees  and  tell  the  Lord, 
"My  religion  is  played  out,  sure.  I  never  felt  this  symp- 
tom since  I  was  converted,  and  now.  Lord,  like  most 
Methodists,  my  religion  has  left  me;  give  it  back  to  me 
again/'  That's  the  way  I  talk,  and  all  I  can  say  of  you 
Presbyterians  and  Christians  and  Baptists  that  are  not  on 
that  line  is,  you  never  had  any,  because  you  can't  lose 
yours,  you  know.  When  our  members  go  to  the  devil  we 
say,  "They  have  lost  their  religion,"  and  when  your  mem- 
bers go  to  the  devil  you  say,  "They  never  had  any." 
Well,  it  don't  make  any  difference  which  way  it  is  ;  the  devil 
has  got  them  sure. 

Teaching  us  that  we  must  cease  to  do  evil  and  learn  to  do  well. 

This  is  the  Christian  truth  that  teaches  me  that  I  must 
deny  ungodliness  and  worldly  lust,  and  I  must  live  soberly 
as  to  myself,  righteously  toward  my  neighbor,  godly  to- 
ward him  unto  whom  I  owe  so  much. 

CONSISTENT,   REGULAR   CHRISTIANITY. 

Now,  here  are  the  three  positive  attitudes  of  the  Chris- 
tian :  1.  He  is  a  sober-minded  man  in  his  relations  toward 
all  the  world  around  him.  I  like  one  of  these  sober-minded 
men  that  takes  a  particular  view  of  eveiything  and  goes  for 
the  long  run  all  the  time,  and  cares  nothing  for  counting 
the  present  results,  but  is  looking  to  the  great  long  run.  J 
like  one  of  these  sober-minded  men.  He  is  the  same  QYQvy 
day,  and  the  same  under  all  circumstances,  and  the  samt» 
everywhere;  he  is  just  as  good  in  New  York  as  he  is^  io  S* 
Louis. 


60  Grace  and  Salvation. 

There  is  many  a  fellow  that  is  a  good  Christian  in  St. 
Louis,  but  if  he  were  to  wear  an  indicator  when  he  went  to 
New  York,  when  he  got  back  his  wife  would  quit  him,  in 
my  candid  judgment.  He  is  just  as  sober  and  pious  here  in 
church  and  in  this  community  as  he  can  be;  but  let  him  go 
on  a  fishing  trip  and  he'll  carry  a  quart  of  liquor  for  every 
day  he's  going  to  be  out.  I  like  a  religion  that  keeps  me 
as  good  off  of  my  knees  as  I  am  on  my  knees ;  just  as  good 
on  the  outside  as  I  am  on  the  inside;  just  as  good  in  New 
York  as  I  am  at  home;  just  as  good  anywhere  and  every- 
where and  forever,  as  my  promises  and  my  vows  demand  I 
should  be.  I  like  that  sort  of  Christianity — a  sober-minded 
sort,  that  regulates  all  my  life.  This  dead-level  sort,  this 
straight-forward  sort;  I  like  that  sort  of  a  Christian. 

THE   REGULATING   FORCE   OF   LIFE. 

Sober-mindedness — that's  the  regulating  force  of  every 
good  man's  life;  that  makes  him  step  along  in  an  even, 
smooth  way  towards  the  good  world.  Some  people  think 
heaven  is  away  off  yonder,  and  some  people  think  hell  is 
away  down  yonder,  but  I  want  to  tell  you  that  heaven  is  on 
a  dead  level  with  every  good  man's  heart;  and  I  want  to 
tell  you  the  way  to  heaven  is  a  dead  level.  Christ  dug 
down  the  mountains  and  filled  up  the  valleys,  and  the  way 
to  heaven  is  a  dead  level,  and  the  way  to  hell  is  a  dead  level, 
and  there  is  only  one  road  in  the  moral  universe;  and  one 
end  of  that  road  is  hell  and  the  other  end  oftheroadis 
heaven,  and  it  don't  matter  who  you  are,  but  which  way  are 
you  going?  Don't  you  see?  Soberly,  righteously,  a  sober- 
minded  man. 

You  look  at  that  stationary  engine  out  yonder  at  the 
saw-mill.  You  see  little  governors  playing  around  over  the 
steam  chest,  and  you  see  there  that  saw  as  it  runs  into  that 
large  log — that  sixty-two-inch  circular  saw  runs  right  into 
the  log,  and  the  little  governors  let  down,  and  additional 
steam  is  thrown  against  the  piston-head,  and  I  see  that  saw 
wade  right  along  through  the  log  and  run  out  at  the  other 
end,  and  the  little  governors  lift  up  and  let  off  the  steam, 
and  the  saw  runs  at  the  same  revolution  to  the  minute, 
whether  it  is  in  or  out.  There  is  the  Christian  man,  like 
Job.    Oh,  my,  he  was  a  sober-minded  man.    In  prosperity; 


Grace  and  Salvation,  61 

and  when  adversity  came,  and  the  last  dollar  was  swept 
away  from  him,  Job  run  in  and  out  that  log,  and  he  was  run- 
ning the  same  revolutions  to  the  minute  when  he  run  into 
infirmity  and  disease  and  pain,  and  as  he  run  right  through 
and  came  out,  running  the  same  revolution  to  the  minute, 
he  said:  "I  will  trust  him  though  he  slay  me;''  and  when 
they  placed  the  charge  against  his  character  that  he  had 
sinned  and  done  wrong,  he  went  right  along  through  that 
and  came  out  on  the  other  side,  and  the  Lord  God  said  to 
him,  ''Job,  take  my  arm  and  walk  with  me,  and  I  will  make 
your  latter  days  more  prosperous  than  your  former  days/' 
I  like  a  sober-minded  man — a  man  who  will  do  the  same 
thing  all  the  time;  not  one  of  those  men  who  will  do  some- 
thing duringtherevival  meeting,  and  who  don'trecollectthat 
he  did  anything  out  of  the  revival,  and  one  day  he  will  shake 
your  hands,  and  another  day  he  will  hardly  know  you  when 
he  meets  you  on  the  street.  I  don't  like  one  of  those  per- 
simmon-headed sort  of  fellows.  I  want  a  fellow  who  knows 
you  when  he  meets  you,  everywhere,  and  will  do  the  same 
thing  everywhere  and  under  all  circumstances. 

THE   DEMAND   FOR   DOWNRIGHT   HONESTY. 

Sober-minded  !  A  Christian  man  ought  to  be  sober-mind- 
ed, and  rest  on  this  one  promise — all  things  are  given  for 
good  to  them  that  love  God — sober-minded  as  to  ourselves 
and  righteous  towards  our  neighbors. 

I  will  tell  you  if  there  is  anything  that  religion  demands 
of  a  man,  it  is  that  he  be  downright  honest.  Honesty  !  As 
somebody  said:  ''An  honest  man  is  the  noblest  work  of 
God,"  and  that  is  the  grandest  utterance  outside  of  the  lid 
of  the  Bible. 

"An  honest  man  is  the  noblest  work  of  God."  And  when 
I  say  an  honest  man,  I  don't  mean  a  man  simply  that  pays 
his  debts — some  of  us  ain't  honest  enough  to  do  that.  But 
I  have  known  men  that  would  walk  across  town  to  pay  a 
nickel  that  they  owed,  and  I  never  saw  a  man  that  would  do 
that  that  I  would  not  hide  my  pocket-book  from  at  night. 
One  of  those  fellows  that  are  so  scrupulous — he  is  fixing 
things  to  cheat  somebody  !  I  am  not  talking  about  that  class. 

I'll  tell  you  what  this  world  needs  right  now.  It  needs  a 
larger  course  of  downright  honesty ;  that's  it.    I  will  tell 


62  Grace  and  Salvation. 

you  what,  the  Church  of  God  will  never  take  this  world  until 
we  get  honest.  There  are  too  many  men  in  the  Church 
boarding  with  their  wives — there  are  that — agents  for  their 
wives.  I  want  to  die  the  day  before  my  wife  appoints  me  her 
agent.  Do  you  hear  that?  A  man  in  the  Church  of  God 
and  a  prominent  character,  and  that  man  living  in  a  $30,- 
000  house,  and  riding  around  in  a  $1,200  turnout;  and  the 
poor  widow  woman  whose  money  he  has  is  walking  these 
streets  with  scarcely  bread  to  eat.  And  if  there  is  a  hell 
at  all  that  man  will  go  there  as  certain  as  God  is  just. 

THE    BUSINESS    VALUE    OF    RELIGION. 

Honesty !  We  want  in  this  country  men  in  the  Church  of 
God  who  will  do  what  they  say  they  will  do.  That's  it. 
Why,  sir,  a  man's  Methodism  ain't  worth  anything  to  him 
in  this  country,  and  a  man's  Baptism  and  his  Presbyteri- 
anism  ain't  worth  anything  to  him.  You  go  down  to  a  store 
to-morrow  and  want  a  thousand  dollars' worth  of  goods  on 
credit,  and  the  fellow  says,  ^'Can  you  give  me  any  security  ?  " 
"No;  I  am  a  Methodist."  The  merchant  answers,  "O, 
Lord!  You  can't  run  that  thing  on  me  here."  ^ndleta 
Baptist  go  down  there  and  say,  "I'm  a  Baptist,  and  I  want 
credit."  "Law,  me!  If  you  will  come  in  here  and  let  me 
show  you  how  these  Baptists  have  gouged  me,  you  would 
not  play  yourself  off  as  a  Baptist."  And  so  with  every 
denomination.  And  I  tell  you  here  to-night,  the  Church 
of  God  will  never  do  the  work  he  wants  her  to  do  until 
she  is  honest — honest  towards  God  and  honest  towards 
man.  I  want  to  see  the  day  come  when  all  the  churches 
in  the  world  will  have  the  character  in  commercial  life 
that  the  old  Hardshell  Church  has  in  Georgia.  Down 
in  Athens,  Ga.,  an  old  Hardshell  walked  in  one  day  to 
a  store  and  said  to  the  merchant :  "I  want  a  couple  of  hun- 
dred dollars'  worth  of  goods  this  year  on  credit."  The 
merchant  looked  at  his  old  hat  and  jeans  pants,  and  he  con- 
cluded that  was  not  the  sort  of  a  man  to  trust,  and  he  told 
him  he  would  not  give  him  the  goods.  The  fellow  turned 
and  walked  out,  and  the  merchant  asked  a  clerk  in  the 
store:  "Who  is  that  man?"  "That's  Mr.  So-and-So ;  he 
belongs  to  the  Hardshell  Church  up  here."  The  merchant 
went  out  after  him  and  said :  "Friend,   come  back  here, 


Grace  and  Salvation.  63 

Are  you  a  Hardshell  ? ''  He  said,  ^'Yes."  '^Wcll/'  said  the 
merchant,  ''you  can  have  all  you  want;  you  can  have  all  I 
have  here  in  this  store  on  credit  for  as  long  a  time  as  you 
need."  And  down  in  Georgia  the  Hardshclls  will  turn  a 
member  out  of  church  for  taking  the  homestead  exemption 
or  going  into  bankruptcy,  just  as  quick  as  they  would  for 
stealing — they  will  that. 

PAYING   ONE    HUNDRED    CENTS    ON   THE   DOLLAR. 

Honesty!  I  like  that.  We  have  collecting  laws  all  over 
this  country,  and  we  have  ruined  our  people  ;  we  have  made 
our  people  dishonest  by  our  laws — that  is  the  truth  about  it. 
Our  people  are  made  dishonest  by  our  laws.  Our  law,  our 
Congress,  our  Legislature,  fix  it  so  that  a  man  can,  by  a 
turn  of  technicalities  in  law,  just  wipe  out  all  his  debts,  and 
he  can  compromise  with  his  creditors. 

Out  in  Waco,  Tex.,  last  year,  there  was  a  merchant  there 
thrown  into  bankruptcy,  and  he  compromised  his  debts  at  a 
hundred  cents  on  the  dollar — just  think  about  that — and  paid 
it,  every  bit.  He  compromised  his  debts  at  a  hundred  cents 
on  the  dollar!  He  was  a  fool,  wasn't  he?  He  was  a  fool. 
They  say  in  one  heathen  country  they  make  every  holiday 
a  day  for  a  general  handshaking  among  all  enemies,  and 
every  fellow  pays  every  dollar  he  owes  in  the  world.  That's 
a  grand  holiday,  ain't  it  ?  They  are  heathens,  though,  ain't 
they?  They  must  be  heathens  if  they  do  that  way.  Make 
friends  with  all  my  enemies  and  pay  every  dollar  I  owe 
every  holiday  !  Nobody  but  a  heathen  would  do  that,  would 
he?     Eighteously  do  the  right  thing;    do  the  right  thing. 

And  I  want  to  say  about  it,  that  those  bankrupt  and  home- 
stead laws  have  been  the  curse  of  this  country  in  all  ages  of 
it.  I  want  to  see  the  day  come — and  I  beg  your  pardon  for 
the  expression — I  want  to  see  the  day  come  when  you  can 
sell  a  man's  shirt  off  of  his  back  to  pay  his  debts.  I'd  rather 
die  than  to  be  in  debt,  and  have  things  that  other  people 
ought  to  have.     That's  the  way  I  look  at  it. 

SAM   JONES'    EXPERIENCE. 

You  say,  '' Yes,  j^ou  are  talking  mighty  big.''  Yes,  and 
I've  talked  little,  too,  I  want  you'to  understand.  The  devil 
bankrupted  me  for  both  worlds,  and  when  God  converted 
my  soul  and  I  was  called  into  the  ministry,  I  was  hundred^ 


64  Grace  and  Salvation. 

of  dollars  in  debt,  and  I  know  how  a  man  feels,  I  know  how 
it  cows  a  man,  and  I  know  how  I  have  gone  up  with  $2.50  at 
a  time  to  pay  a  debt  and  my  wife  had  one  dress  and  I  had 
one  suit,  and  we  were  living  at  starvation  rates,  and  my  wife 
doing  her  own  washing  and  ironing  and  her  own  nursing, 
and  I  splittingthe  wood  and  working  and  saving  every  nickel 
I  could  to  pay  my  debts ;  and  in  spite  of  that  I  have  heard 
of  fellows  saying,  ^'If  that  fellow  Jones  would  pay  his  debts 
I  could  have  more  confidence  in  him;"  and  if  they  had  put 
their  ears  to  this  side  of  my  head  they  could  hear  the  blood, 
drip  !  drip  I  I  paid  every  cent,  thank  God  !  a  hundred  cents  on 
the  dollar,  and  I  was  just  as  good  a  man  after  I  paid  as  I  was 
before.  And  thank  God  that  a  poor  man  can  be  an  honest  man  ! 
Thank  God,  that  is  true. 

GOD^S    APPRECIATION    OF    HONESTY. 

I'll  tell  you  the  sort  I  find  in  my  Bible,  where  Obadiah 
borrowed  $500  from  Ahab  and  died  before  the  money  was 
due.  After  his  death  Ahab  sued  the  widow  for  the  debt, 
and  levied  on  her  and  her  two  children  for  the  money. 
They  could  levy  on  children  in  those  days,  and  they  were 
to  be  sold  in  this  case  to  pay  the  debt.  The  mother  was  in 
distress,  and  she  hunted  up — I  had  almost  said  a  lawyer, 
but  she  never  went  within  a  mile  of  one,  God  bless  you.  She 
hunted  up  the  best  old  prophet  of  God  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  She  stated  her  case  to  him  and  said  :  ''My  husband 
died  owing  this  money,  and  they  have  levied  on  my  two 
children  to  pay  this  debt.  What  must  I  do?  The  old 
prophet  looked  at  her  and  said:  "What  have  you  in  your 
house?"  The  poor  woman  replied,  trembling:  ''Nothing 
but  a  pot  of  oil,  and  that  is  to  embalm  our  bodies  with." 
The  prophet  never  said  a  word  about  the  homestead,  but 
he  said  :  "You  go  and  sell  that  oil  and  pay  that  debt."  She 
went  home  and  borrowed  vessels  and  drew  enough  oil  out 
of  the  pot  to  pay  the  old  debt,  and  she  had  more  oil 
left  afterwards  than  when  she  commenced  to  draw  it. 
That  was  God  Almighty  standing  by  an  honest  woman, 
don't  you  see?  I  have  seen  it  repeated  again  and  again, 
and  I  tell  you  that  God  Almighty  will  take  care  of  honest 
men,  if  he  has  to  put  the  angels  on  half  rations  for  twelve 
months. 


Grace  and  Salvation.  65 

I  was  once  appointed  to  certain  work  in  a  certain  county 
in  a  Georgia  circuit.  Tlie  year  before  the  whole  cr^untry  was 
blighted  with  drouth.  The  people  had  not  made  a  bale  of 
cotton  to  twenty  acres,  when  they  ought  to  have  made  a  bale 
to  every  two  acres.  Corn  was  not  a  paying  crop,  and  merch- 
ants were  pressing  their  claims.  I  commenced  preaching 
righteousness.  I  said  :  "  I  know  your  soil  has  been  parched 
by  the  drouth,  I  know  your  crops  are  failures,  I  know  you 
are  poor;  but,"  I  continued, ''listen  to  me.  Ifthe  sheriff  comes 
on  3^ou  and  takes  your  house  and  your  stock,  and  your  all, 
let  him  take  them  ;  and  then  walk  out  with  your  wife  and 
children,  bareheaded  and  barefooted,  so  that  you  can  say, 
'  We  are  homeless  and  breadless,  but  my  integrity  is  as  un- 
stained as  the  character  of  God.'" 

Oh,  for  an  unstained  character  !  That  is  what  we  want  in 
this  country.  An  honest  man.  I  tell  you  there  are  too  many 
men  in  this  country  who  have  widows'  and  orphans'  legacies 
in  their  pockets,  and  lam  sorry  to  say,  too  many  of  that  sort 
have  broken  into  the  churches  of  this  country,  and  every 
dollar  of  that  money  thatyou  keep  in  your  pocket  as  apreach- 
er,  and  in  j^our  treasury  as  a  church,  the  devil  will  make  you 
pay  it  back  with  compound  interest.  He  well  knows  that 
that  is  his  money,  and  he  does  not  loan  his  money  without 
interest,  and  big  interest  at  that. 

OWE  NO  MAN  ANYTHING. 

Righteously.  Eighteous  men.  I  like  righteous  men.  Tom 
Moore,  the  poet,  was  righteous  in  this  sense.  They  asked 
him  when  on  his  dying  pillow,  "  Are  there  any  of  your  man- 
uscripts that  you  have  changed  or  altered  ?"  He  said,  "No  j 
I  never  wrote  a  line  in  my  life  that  I  would  now  wipe  out 
with  my  little  finger."  Yon  are  a  merchant.  Can  you  say 
on  your  dying  pillow,  "I  never  performed  a  deed  I  would 
not  wipe  out  with  my  little  finger?"  Samuel,  the  prophet, 
was  a  righteous  man,  and  when  he  walked  out  to  his  burial 
place,  all  Israel  gathered  around  him,  and  the  clear  voice  of 
the  old  prophet  rang  out,  and  ho  asked  these  questions: 
''Whom  have  I  cheated  ?"  "  Whom  have  I  defrauded  ?"  "Of 
whom  have  I  received  a  bribe  of  money  to  blind  my  eyes?" 
And  all  Israel  echoed  back,  "No  one."  Oh,  that  was  a  grand 
victory. 


66  Grace  and  Salvation. 

But,  brethren,  the  man  who  does  not  recognize  his  obliga- 
tions to  God  is  but  half  a  man  at  best.  I  have  my  relations 
toward  my  family,  and  my  relations  toward  my  country,  and 
my  relations  toward  my  God.  I  will  meet  the  demands  of 
my  children  and  my  home.  I  will  meet  the  demands  of  my 
country.  I  will  meet  the  demands  of  the  God  that  made  me 
and  them.  I  am  good  for  all  worlds.  A  godly  man  is  one 
that  does  everything  with  reference  to  the  great  eye  of  God 
that  is  looking  down  upon  him,  a  man  that  is  godly  in  his 
life  and  character,  and  that  docs  right  toward  the  God  that 
made  him.  Where  do  we  find  examples  of  godly  men  ?  St. 
Paul,  the  author  of  this  text,  was  a  godly  man.  He  lived 
for  God,  and  counted  all  things  as  lost  that  he  might  please 
God.  In  his  dying  moments  he  sat  in  his  dark  dungeon  and 
wrote  in  his  last  letter  to  Timothy  : 
The  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand. 

Oh,  what  a  thought.  St.  Paul  meant  to  say  to  him:  *'I 
shall  have  a  cold  supper  to-night  and  a  cold  breakfast  in 
the  morning;  I  shall  sleep  on  a  hard  bed  to-night,  but  I 
shall  take  dinner  in  heaven  to-morrow  with  God  and  the  ang- 
els." He  talked  about  his  departure  as  a  school  boy  talks 
of  leaving  school  for  home,  and  when  his  head  was  severed 
from  his  body,  God  stooped  down,  picked  up  that  bloody 
head  and  placed  a  crown  of  everlasting  life  upon  it.  He  was 
a  godly  man,  and  God  will  take  care  of  that  sort  of  man,  liv- 
ing or  dying. 

A  NOBLE  ENDING. 

Just  such  a  man  as  this  died  in  our  State  some  months  ago, 
and  when  his  large  family  of  Christian  boys  and  girls  stood 
around  him,  he  struggled  for  breath  in  the  last  extremities 
of  life.  Just  as  his  moments  were  drawing  to  a  close  he 
seemed  restless  and  wanted  to  speak.  His  children's  atten- 
tion was  attracted  by  his  looks  and  they  said,  ''Father,  is 
there  any  request  you  wish  to  make  ?  If  so,  tell  us  what  it 
is."  He  caught  his  breath  and  said,  ''Bring — "  but  break- 
ing down,  he  could  not  utter  another  word.  His  children 
gathered  close  around  him  and  said,  "Oh,  father,  do  not  die 
without  telling  us  what  you  want."  Again  he  said, 
"  Bring — "  and  could  not  utter  another  word.  The  children 
l?ent  over  him  and  said,  "  Father,  do  not  die  without  telling 


Grace  and  Salvation.  67 

us  what  you  want/'  Presently  his  system  relaxed  in  death, 

and  his  lips  moved  freely  as  he  said  : 

Bring  forth  the  royal  diadem, 
And  crown  him  Lord  of  all. 

Then  the  soul  swept  out  of  his  body  and  he  never  breathed 
another  breath.  God  help  us  to  live  righteously,  soberly 
and  godly  in  this  world,  a.nd  to  look  forward  with  blessed 
hope  to  the  glorious  appearing  of  the  great  God  and  our 
Savior,  Jesus  Christ. 

At  times  within  the  past  ten  years  I  have  thought  of  going 
back  to  the  practice  of  law,  and  of  accumulating  a  fortune, 
that  my  family  might  be  provided  for,  and  of  preaching  the 
gospel  in  after  life  ;  but  with  the  blessed  hope  of  God  before 
me  I  continued  right  on.  My  eyes  were  on  something  bet- 
ter, grander  and  nobler.  When  kind  friends  in  JS'ashville 
said:  ^' Here  is  a  $10,000  home  and  thousands  in  bonds,  if 
you  will  make  your  home  in  our  midst,'' I  replied  :  ^*No.  In 
our  own  quiet  little  cottage  my  wife  and  children  and  my- 
self love  God  and  are  striving  to  get  to  heaven.  Excuse  me, 
I  love  you  just  as  much  as  if  I  accepted  it."  Then  my  wife 
said  to  me,  ''Husband,  I  am  prouder  of  you  for  that  than 
for  any  act  in  your  history." 

THE    UPWARD   FLIGHT    OF   THE    SOUL. 

And  I  want  to  say  to  this  congregation  that  I  am  getting 
higher  and  higher.  I  S3'mpathize  a  good  deal  with  the  eag- 
let caged  up  yonder.  Now  a  kind  friend,  pitying  its  droop- 
ing condition,  opens  the  cage-door  and  lets  it  out.  I  see  it 
leave  its  cage  and  turn  its  eye  to  the  sun  and  to  the  moun- 
tain tops.  Its  ruffled  feathers  begin  to  smooth  down  and  it 
raises  its  wings  and  shakes  them  for  a  moment.  I  see  it  fly 
up  into  the  air  and  poise  itself  on  its  wings.  It  looks  back 
toward  the  cage  and  utters  a  scream,  as  much  as  to  say, 
"  Farewell  cage ;  farewell  imprisonment  and  weary  hours  !" 
I  see  it  fly  higher  and  higher,  until  at  last  it  poises  on  its 
wings  just  in  sight  and  I  hear  it  scream  again.  It  seems  to 
say,  "  Farewell  earth  and  imprisonment  and  cage  and  dreary 
days."  Higher  and  higher  it  goes,  poises  itself,  flies  off  and 
alights  on  the  mountain  top,  free  as  air.  Brethren,  the  soul 
of  man,  that  has  been  ruffled  by  10,000  cares,  some  of  these 
days  will  look  toward  that  blessed  hope  of  God,  plume  its 

6 


68  Grace  and  Salvation, 

wings  and  fly  upward.  And  the  higher  we  go,  earth  shall 
hear  our  voices  growing  the  fainter,  saying,  ''Farewell 
cares,  imprisonment  and  earth!''  Higher  and  higher  we 
shall  go,  until  at  last  we  fly  oif  in  a  bee-line  for  the  other 
world.  We  shall  go  up  until  there  is  nothing  in  the  way. 
That  is  what  a  bee-line  means.  The  bee,  after  passing  from 
flower  to  flower  and  filling  its  little  honey  cell,  begins  to 
circle  up  and  up  and  up,  until  it  gets  above  the  highest  tree 
top.  Then  it  strikes  a  bee-line  for  its  home.  Brethren,  let 
us  get  up  above  worldly  care  and  sin  and  temptation,  and 
let  us  strike  a  bee-line  for  that  home  beyond,  where  sin  and 
suffering  are  felt  no  more.  May  God  bless  you  all,  and  may 
you  ponder  over  these  words  in  thespiritin  which  they  have 
been  uttered.  If  you  do  not  like  anything  that  has  been  said, 
and  if  you  come  and  apologize,  I  will  forgive  you,  for  I  nev- 
er bear  malice  to  anybody  in  this  world. 


^EI^MON   III. 
pRyVWINQ    THE    ^INEg, 


Now  while  Paul  waited  for  them  at  Athens  his  spirit  was  stirred  in  him 
when  he  saw  the  city  wholly  given  to  idolatry. — Acts  17 ;  16. 

BY  ''them"  was  meant  Silas  and  Timothy,  co-workers  with 
Paul,  who  were  to  follow  and  accompany  him  on  his  mis- 
sionary tour. 

I  believe  Saul  of  Tarsus  was  the  greatest  man  in  this 
world's  history.  When  I  measure  his  head  I  look  and  ad- 
mire. When  I  measure  his  heart  I  am  at  a  loss  to  know 
which  is  the  greater,  his  head  or  his  heart.  It  takes  both 
head  and  heart  to  make  a  true  man.  If  there  was  a  leading 
characteristic  in  the  life  of  this  great  man  it  was  his  sterling 
integrity,  his  downright  honesty.  There  was  never  but  one 
trouble  in  the  mind  of  this  great  man,  and  that  was  touch- 
ing the  divinity  of  Christ.  It  took  the  biggest  guns  of 
heaven  to  arouse  and  convince  him,  but  when  once  con- 
vinced he  was  loyal  forever.  I  believe  I  am  ready  to  say 
here  in  my  place,  that  St.  Paul  being  an  honest  man  God 
put  him  straight  once,  and  he  never  gave  Grod  a  moment's 
trouble  after  that,  until  God  said  :  "It  is  enough  ;  come  up 
higher.''  St.  Paul  was  such  a  man  as  I  would  imitate.  I 
admire  his  character,  true,  noble,  courageous,  honest.  And 
now  this  man,  waiting  for  his  companions  at  Athens,  sees 
the  whole  city  given  to  idolatry. 

The  charge  that  God  brought  against  his  ancient  people 
was  this:  "My  people  will  not  consider."  The  etymolog- 
ical definition  of  that  word  is,  "to  look  at  a  thing  until  you 
see  it." 

I  would  illustrate  the  words  "glance"  and  "consider"  by 
reference  to  the  study  of  a  landscape  picture.  A  glance 
would  take  in  the  main  features,  such  as  the  mountain 
scenery,  the  stream  and  the  hamlet.  A  consideration  or 
careful  examination  would  show  the  foliage  of  the  mountain 
69 


70  Drawing  the  Lines, 

trees,  the  road  leading  to  the  mansion,  the  cattle  grazing  on 
the  hill  slopes,  and  so  on.  There  is  quite  a  difference  be- 
tween glancing  at  an  object  and  considering  it.  St.  Paul 
had  considered  the  state  of  affairs  in  Athens,  and  his  spirit 
was  stirred  within  him  when  he  saw  how  the  whole  city  was 
given  to  idolatry. 

ONE   OF   TWO   THINGS. 

Now,  I  want  to  say  right  here :  One  of  two  things  is  true 
of  the  city  of  St.  Louis  to-night.  Either  the  eyes  of  Chris- 
tian people  are  closed  to  the  fact,  or  else  the  facts  are  false- 
hoods; one  or  the  other.  You  can  take  whichever  horn  of 
the  dilemma  you  please.  I  can  take  the  daily  papers  of  St. 
Louis  and  read  your  local  columns  and  see  without  getting 
at  the  Bible  that  St.  Louis  is  wrong,  that  there  is  something 
radically  wrong  about  this  city;  there  are  too  many  de- 
bauched characters,  too  many  suicides,  too  many  murders, 
— too  many  that  are  drifting  daily  to  destruction  and 
ruin.  'The  fact  is,  a  man  don't  need  a  Bible  to  see  this 
world  is  all  wrong;  all  you  need  to  do  is  just  to  read  your 
morning  and  afternoon  papers,  and  then  walk  this  street 
with  your  eyes  open.  If  you  do  that  it  will  not  be  one  week 
from  to-day  until  you  look  on  with  horror  that  is  indescrib- 
able. 

Now,  let  me  ask  each  of  you  :  Did  you  ever  look  at  your 
heart  until  you  saw  it  ?  I  grant  you  that  you  have  glanced 
at  it  a  thousand  times,  but  did  you  ever  kneel  down  and 
pray  for  light  and  look  and  look  until  you  saw  your  heart  ? 
My  Bible  teaches  me  that 

The  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things,  and  desperately  wicked. 

My  Bible  teaches  me: 
Keep  thy  heart  with  all  diligence,  for  out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  life. 

My  Bible  teaches  me  : 
Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God. 

DIFFERENT   KINDS    OF   HEARTS. 

I  once  saw  a  pictorial  representation  of  the  human  heart. 
It  represented  the  sinner's  heart;  full  of  all  kinds  of  wild 
beasts,  reptiles  and  unclean  birds — a  hideous  sight  to  look 
upon.  Then  there  was  the  heart  under  conviction  of  sin, 
with  the  heads  of  all  these  animals  turned  outward  as  if  they 


Drawing  the  Lines,  71 

were  getting  ready  to  leave.  Then  I  saw  the  heart  con- 
verted, cleansed,  and  it  was  represented  with  a  shining 
light  and  a  cross.  I  saw  also  the  backslider's  heart,  with 
the  heads  of  all  the  beasts  and  reptiles  as  if  they  had  turned 
backward;  and  I  saw  the  apostate's  heart — a  Methodist's 
heart — as  it  was  filled  to  overflowing  with  all  manner  of 
horrid  things,  and  the  last  state  of  that  man  was  worse  than 
the  first. 

Oh,  the  heart!  the  heart!  This  world  reminds  me  in 
some  of  its  phases  of  the  man  down  in  the  spring  branch 
trying  to  clear  the  water,  so  he  could  get  a  clear  drink. 
He  was  doing  all  he  could  to  filter  and  clear  the  water, 
when  some  friend  called  out  to  him  :  ^'Stranger,  come  up  a 
little  higher  and  run  that  hog  out  of  that  spring,  and  it  will 
clear  itself."  No  trouble  then.  And  I  declare  to  you  to- 
night, the  hardest  job  a  man  ever  undertakes  in  this  world 
is  to  lift  up  his  life  with  an  unclean  heart. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  clean  life  outside  of  a  clean 
heart.  I  know  we  have  what  we  call  moral  men,  but  I 
don't  believe  you  can  separate  morals  and  Christianity.  In 
fact,  the  morals  of  this  world  are  the  paraphernalia  of 
Christianity.  The  man  who  is  moral  in  the  sense  that  he 
will  pay  his  debts  and  tell  the  truth,  and  that  sort  of  thing, 
may  be  a  villain  at  heart.  Our  Savior  looked  at  the  most 
moral  men  this  world  ever  saw,  and  said:  ''You  white- 
washed rascals,  you!"  That  is  our  version.  His  version 
was:  *'Ye  whited  sepulchers!"  I  had  rather  be  called  the 
former. 

TO    NON-PROFESSORS. 

And  I  want  to  say,  to  you  men  that  don't  profess  to  be 
Christians,  I  don't  bring  a  railing  charge  against  you. 
In  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ  not  a  single  harsh  word  ever  es- 
caped his  lips  toward  a  sinner.  When  Jesus  would  talk 
with  a  sinner,  ho  would  fetch  up  the  parable  of  the  lost 
sheep,  where  the  man  left  the  ninety  and  nine  safe  in  the 
fold  and  followed  the  poor,  wandering  sheep,  and  when  he 
found  it  he  didn't  take  a  club  and  beat  it  back  home,  but 
picked  up  the  poor,  tired,  hungry  sheep  and  laid  it  on  his 
shoulder  and  brought  it  back  to  the  fold.  But  I  tell  you 
one  thing.  The  Lord  Jesus  himself  never  lost  a  chance  to 
pour  hot  shot  and  grape  and  canister  into  the  Scribes  and 


72  Drawing  the  Lines. 

Pharisees,  and  they  are  the  gentlemen  I  am  after,  begging 
your  pardon.  Now,  if  the  sinners  about  this  town  want  to 
go  to  the  theaters,  and  want  to  dance  and  want  to  play 
cards,  and  want  to  curse  and  want  to  live  licentious  lives,  I 
say,  ''Gro  it.  Go  it,  boys;"  but  if  you  members  of  the 
Church  want  to  do  it,  I  will  brand  you  as  hypocrites,  until 
you  renounce  your  faith  in  Christ  and  have  your  name 
taken  off  the  Church  books.  Tve  got  a  right  to  say  a  few 
things  along  there,  and  neither  this  world,  nor  the  flesh, 
nor  the  devil,  will  interpose  any  objection.  DonH  any- 
body say  I  interposed  an  objection  to  any  man  who  don't 
profess  to  be  a  Christian,  or  placed  any  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  his  doing  just  as  he  pleases.  We  will  attend  to  your  case 
later;  but  now  I  want  to  look  in  the  faces  of  men  who 
have  made  their  vows  and  their  promises  to  God,  and  who 
have  sworn  eternal  allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  their 
lives  are  a  shame  to  the  gospel  and  a  disgrace  to  the  charac- 
ter they  profess.    That's  it. 

A   STORY   OF   MOODY. 

Now  let  ns  look  at  our  hearts.  I  believe  this  incident,  re- 
lated of  Mr.  Moody,  will  illustrate  the  point  I  am  on.  On 
one  occasion,  when  he  had  invited  penitents  to  the  altar, 
there  came  forward  a  great  many,  and  he  walked  back  two 
or  three  pews  to  where  two  Christian  ladies  were  sitting,  and 
he  said,  "My  sisters,  will  you  walk  forward  and  talk  to  those 
penitents?"  They  looked  up  at  him  and  said,  "No,  sir;  Mr. 
Moody,  we  are  praying  for  you."  "  Praying  for  me?  "  he 
said.  "Am  I  not  trying  to  live  right  and  get  to  heaven  ?  " 
"Yes,  Mr.  Moody;  but  we  are  praying  that  you  may  have  a 
clean  heart."  And  he  said  conviction  entered  his  spirit  in 
a  moment,  and  he  dismissed  the  services  later  and  went  home 
and  fell  down  on  his  knees  and  prayed,  "  Lord  God,  show 
me  my  heart.  Let  me  see  it  as  it  is."  And  he  said,  "When 
the  light  of  heaven  poured  in  upon  my  heart  I  saw  it  was 
full  of  Moody,  and  full  of  selfishness,  and  full  of  worldly 
pride;  and  then  I  said,  *  Lord  God,  help  me  to 

"  'Cast  every  idol  out 
That  dares  to  rival  thee.' " 

"And,"  said  he,  "the  Lord  came  and  washed  out  all  un- 
righteousness from  my  heart,  and  from  that  day  until  now  I 


Drmvijig  the  Lines.  73 

have  never  preached  a  sermon  that  didn't  win  souls  to 
Christ/'  And  I  declare  to  you,  if  Jesus  had  in  this  town  an 
army  of  pure  blood-washed  hearts,  we  could  win  St.  Louis 
to  Christ.  And  never,  never,  never  will  we  accomplish  the 
work  and  bring  the  world  to  Christ  until  we,  who  profess 
Christ,  arouse  ourselves,  and  wake  up,  and  shake  the  deviFs 
fleas  ofl"  ourselves,  and  get  to  be  decent. 

HYPOCRITES  AND  HUMBUGS. 

I  can  stand  anything  better  than  I  can  a  hypocrite.  I  al- 
ways  did  have  a  hatred  for  shams  and  humbugs  and  cheats, 
and  of  all  the  humbugs  that  ever  cursed  the  universe,  I  reck- 
on the  religious  humbug  is  the  humbuggest.  You  remem- 
ber how  the  students  played  a  joke  once  on  the  professor — ■ 
at  Princeton,  I  believe  it  was.  He  was  one  of  those  old  bug- 
ologists,  and  I  reckon  he  had  specimens  of  all  the  bugs  in 
the  world  in  his  frames  and  boxes.  And  the  mischievous 
boys  got  the  legs  of  one  bug  and  the  body  of  another  an4 
the  head  and  wings  of  others  and  put  them  together  like  aa 
if  nature  had  so  formed  them,  and  then  they  laid  it  on  the 
old  Professor's  table,  and  walked  in,  and  asked  him  what  kind 
of  a  bug  that  was;  and  he  said,  ''Grentlemen,  that  is  a  Hum- 
bug." And  I  tell  you  that  when  a  fellow  gets  a  little  Meth^ 
odism  in  him,  and  a  little  of  theatres,  and  a  Uttle  card-play^ 
ing,  and  a  little  of  most  everything,  and  is  made  up  out  of  a 
hundred  different  sorts  of  things,  then  he  is  a  first-c?ass  hum- 
bug in  every  sense  of  the  word.     He  is  just  good  f^ny  where. 

Oh,  my  heart!  With  the  heart  right,  with  the  fountain 
clear,  the  stream  will  be  clear.  With  a  good  tree  the  fruit 
will  be  good.  And  I  declare  to  you  to-night  that  the  hard- 
est work  a  man  ever  tried  to  do  is  to  be  a  Christian  without 
religion;  to  be  a  good  man  with  a  bad  heart. 

Why,  there  are  just  scores  sitting  in  front  ^»f  me  to-night, 
that,  if  it  were  literally  true  that  we  had  wilf^  beasts  and  ser- 
pents and  other  venomous  things  in  bodily  form  in  your 
hearts,  as  they  are  typically  there,  I  would  hate  to  be  close 
round  some  of  you,  for  fear  I  might  get  bit  before  I  could  get 
out  of  the  way.  Oh  G-od,  give  us  clear  hearts  and  clear 
hands. 

CONCERNINa   TONGUt^. 

And  then  I  will  say,  to  be  practical  all  along  the  line,  did 


74  Drawing  the  Lines. 

you  ever  look  at  your  tongue  until  you  said  that?  Oh,  these 
tongues  of  ours  !  These  tongues  of  ours  !  We  Methodists 
pour  the  water  on,  and  the  Presbyterians  sprinkle  it  on,  and 
the  Baptists  put  us  clean  under,butl  don^t  care  whether  you 
sprinkle,  or  pour,  or  immerse,  the  tongue  comes  out  as  dry 
as  powder.  Did  you  ever  see  a  baptized  tongue?  Say,  did 
you?  Did  you  ever  see  a  tongue  that  belonged  to  the 
Church?  You  will  generally  find  the  tongue  among  man's 
reserved  rights.  There  come  in  some  reservations,  and  always 
where  there  is  a  reservation  the  tongue  is  retained.  The  ton- 
gue! The  tongue!  The  tongue!  Pambus,  oneof  the  middle- 
age  saints,  went  to  his  neighbor  with  a  Bible  in  his  hand  and 
told  him  :  "I  w^ant  you  to  read  me  a  verse  of  Scripture  every 
day.  I  can't  read,  and  I  want  you  to  read  to  me."  So  the 
neighbor  opened  the  Bible  and  read  these  words  : 

I  will  take  heed  to  my  ways  that  I  sin  not  with  my  tongue. 
Pambus  took  the  book  out  of  his  hand  and  walked  back 
home,  and  about  a  week  after  that  the  neighbor  met  him, 
and  he  said  :  *'  Pambus,  I  thought  you  were  to  come  back 
and  let  me  read  you  a  passage  of  Scripture  every  da}^?''  And 
Pambus  said,  ''Do  you  recollect  that  verse  you  read  to  me 
the  other  day?''  "No,"  said  the  neighbor.  "Well/'  said 
Pambus,  "I  will  quote  it: 

I  will  take  heed  to  my  ways  that  I  sin  not  with  my  tongue. 
"  And,"  he  said,  "I  never  intend  to  learn  another  passage 
of  Scripture  until  I  learn  to  live  that  one."  Oh,  me!  If 
every  man,  woman  and  child  in  this  house  to-night  would 
go  away  from  here  determined  to  live  that  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture : 

I  said,  I  will  take  heed  to  my  waj^s  that  I  sin  not  with  my  tongue.    I 
will  keep  my  tongue  from  evil  and  my  lips  from  speaking  guile. 

;    Oh,  me  !  Shakespeare  told  a  great  truth  when  he  said  : 

He  that  steals  my  purse  steals  trash, 
But  he  that  filcheth  from  me  my  good  name 
Takes  that  which  not  enricheth  him, 
But  makes  me  poor  indeed. 

VIOLATORS   OF   CHARACTER. 

•These  violators  of  character — I  will  venture  the  assertion 
there  are  many,  many,  many  here  to-night — if  every  word 
you  said  about  people  in  this  house  was  posted  up  there  in 


Drawing  the  Lines,  75 

legible  words,  here  to-night,  you  would  immediately  leave 
this  house  and  never  be  seen  in  public  again.  You  would 
say,  *' We  ain't  going  anywhere  where  they  put  up  every- 
thing we  say  for  folks  to  look  at."  l^ow,  I  look  at  my  ton- 
gue until  I  see  it.  There  is  many  a  man  that  in  other  things 
may  do  well,  that  at  last  will  lie  down  in  hell  forever,  and 
say  :  "I  am  conscious  1  am  tongue-damned.  I  would  have 
gone  to  heaven  if  I  hadn't  got  a  tongue.'' 

My  tongue !  And  I  say  to  you  to-night  the  best  thing  we 
can  do  with  our  tongues  is  to  speak  well  and  to  speak  kind- 
ly of  all  men.  I  dare  assert  here  in  my  place  to-night,  when 
you  take  me  from  this  sacred  stand  that  I  occupy  to-night,  I 
defy  you  to  put  your  finger  on  a  word  of  mine  against  the 
character  or  reputation  of  anybody.  But  I  am  not  talking 
for  myself  up  here.  Understand  that.  Once  in  Jerusa- 
lem a  great  crowd  —  it  was  eighteen  hundred  years  and 
more  ago,  as  the  legend  goes,  or  the  allegory — a  great  crowd 
was  gathered  in  Jerusalem,  and  they  were  gathered  around 
a  dead  dog,  and  they  stood  and  looked,  and  one  of  them  said, 
"That  is  the  ugliest  dog  I  ever  saw."  Another  said,  "Oh,  he 
is  not  only  the  ugliest  dog  I  ever  saw,  but  I  don't  believe  his 
old  hide  is  worth  taking  off  of  him."  Another  said,  "Just 
look  how  crooked  his  legs  are."  And  so  they  criticised  the 
poor  dog.  And  directly  one  spoke  up  and  said,  "Ain't  those 
the  prettiest,  pearly  white  teeth  you  ever  looked  at?"  And 
they  walked  off  and  said,  "That  must  have  been  Jesus  of  J^az- 
areth  that  could  have  found  something  good  to  say  about  a 
dead  dog."  Oh,  me  !  I  like  those  people  that  always  like 
to  say  something  kind  of  people  in  their  ways  and  walks  of 
life. 

WATCHING  one's  FOOTSTEPS. 

And  then,  I  ask  you  again,  did  you  ever  look  at  your  feet 
until  you  saw  them  ?     There  is  a  good  deal  in  that. 
Thy  word  is  a  lamp  unto  my  feet  and  a  light  unto  my  path. 

Oh,  Lord  God  !  I  would  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  him  who 
led  the  way  to  heaven.  There  is  no  circumspect  Christian 
who  does  not  see  to  it  that  his  feet  are  kept  in  the  narrow 
way  that  leads  from  earth  to  heaven.  A  Methodist,  a  Bap- 
tist, a  Presbyterian,  a  Catholic  in  a  ball-room  !  Their  feet, 
that  they  have  pledged    should  follow  in  the  footsteps  of 


76  Drawing  the  Lines. 

Christ,  are  there  cutting  the  pigeon-wing  to  music  !  Now 
what  do  you  think  of  that? 

And  I  hear  this  expression  :  They  say,  "Well,  our  Church 
don't  object  to  it/^  Now,  I  would  say  a  very  strong  thing 
here — and  I  hoj^e  you  will  take  it  in  the  very  spirit  in  which 
I  say  it,  for  I  never  said  a  kinder  thing  or  a  harder  thing 
than  that — you  never,  you  never  shall  hear  a  truer  thing. 
Whenever  a  Presbyterian,  or  a  Methodist,  or  a  Baptist,  or  a 
Christian,  or  a  Congregationalist,  or  a  Catholic  says  that 
their  Church  don't  object  to  dancing  and  theatres,  and  all 
such  things  as  that,  they  could  not  tell  a  bigger  lie  if  they 
would  try  in  a  hundred  years!  Thank  God,  there  is  not  a 
Church  named  after  Christ  on  earth  that  has  not  thundered 
out  after  these  things  with  all  the  power  it  has  got. 

"Our  Church  don't  object !''  Well,  now  the  Episcopal 
Church  being  a  Church  in  authority — how  they  did  thunder 
against  these  worldly  amusements.  That  little  Church  you 
belong  to  may  not.  That  rotten  little  thing!  I  would  not 
stay  in  it  long  enough  to  get  my  hat  if  it  didn't. 

A  PLUCKY  METHODIST  LADY. 

I  was  sitting  in  a  train  some  time  ago  and  the  train  rolled 
up  to  the  station,  and  just  up  on  the  platform,  near-by,  were 
three  ladies.  One  of  the  ladies  said  to  the  other :  "Are  you 
going  to  the  ball  to-night?"  The  other  lady  said,  "I  ain't 
going."  "But,"  she  said,  "I  forgot;  you  are  a  Methodist, 
and  you  don't  go  to  such  places.  I  would  not  be  a  Method- 
ist. I  want  to  enjof^  myself."  The  other  said,  "Yes,  I  am 
a  Methodist,  and,  thank  God  !  I  don't  want  to  go  to  such 
places."  "Oh,"  said  the  other  one,  "I  would  not  be  a  Meth- 
odist," and  the  train  rolled  off,  and  I  felt  like  jumping  ontiie 
top  of  that  train  myself  and  hollering,  "Hurrah  for  Method- 
ism !"  And  whenever  she  goes  into  copartnership  with  ball- 
rooms and  with  all  of  the  worldly  amusements  that  em- 
barrass the  Christian  and  paralyze  his  power — whenever 
the  Methodist  Church  goes  into  copartnership  with  these 
things,  I  will  sever  my  connection  with  her  forever.  And  I 
love  her  and  honor  her  to-day  because  she  has  stood  like  a 
bulwark  against  these  things,  and  denounced  them  from  first 
to  last. 

One  of  the  honored  preachers  of  this  town,  a  man  whose 


Drawing  the  Lines.  77 

good  opinion  I  value  highly,  one  of  the  noblest,  truest  min- 
isters of  this  town,  said  to  me:  *'I  declare  to  you,  our  church- 
es are  little  more  than  a  grave-yard.  We  have  been  killed 
and  almost  buried  by  this  tide  of  worldliness  that  has  swept 
over  our  homes  year  after  year/'  And  that  is  the  truth. 
And  I  can  read  a  ten-page  letter  that  I  got  from  a  citizen  of 
St.  Louis  to  day,  and  turn  every  face  in  this  house  as  pale  as 
death.  That  man  wrote  like  he  knew  what  he  was  talking 
about.  There  is  many  a  mother  at  twelve  o'clock  at  night 
in  this  town  that  can  sing,  with  the  blood  trickling  in  her 
heart, 

Oh,  where  is  m}'^  wandering  boy  to-night? 

He  was  once  as  pure  as  the  driven  snow. 

REMOVING   THE    CARCASSES. 

And  oh,  why,  why,  why  would  I  take  this  carcass,  and 
that  carcass,  and  the  other  carcass,  that  are  so  offensive? 
Why  would  I  bring  them  out  before  this  congz-regation? 
Nothing,  nothing,  nothing  would  make  me  do  it,  but  to  get 
you  to  take  those  carcasses  that  are  despoiling  the  very 
odors  of  your  city,  and  bury  them  out  of  sight  forever.  That 
is  it.  You  all  have  spent  two  or  three  nights  looking  at  me. 
God  help  you  to  look  at  yourselves  awhile.  And  you  will 
think  I  am  a  beauty  before  you  got  through.  I  look  at  my- 
self from  head  to  foot — my  hands,  my  heart,  my  feet,  my 
tongue.  I  look  at  my  wa3^s  and  walks  and  character  in  this 
community.  Did  you  ever  look  at  yourself  as  a  member  of 
the  Church  ?  Did  you  ever  wake  up  some  morning,  and  shut 
your  eyes,  and  lie  there  and  say,  ''Well,  suppose  every  mem- 
ber of  the  Church  in  town  was  just  like  me,  what  sort  of  a 
Church  would  we  have  in  this  town?  Suppose  every  mem- 
ber of  the  Church  in  town  prayed  as  little  as  I  pray,  what 
sort  of  a  Church  would  we  have?  Suppose  every  member 
of  the  Church  in  town  paid  as  little  as  I  pay,  how  long  be- 
fore the  whole  thing  would  be  sold  out  by  the  Sheriff?" 

Oh,  my  brother!  it  is  well  enough,  now  and  then,  for  a 
fellow  to  ^t  a  square,  honest  look  at  himself.  What  sort 
of  a  Methodist  are  you  ?  There  is  a  man  that  has  promised 
to  renounce  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil,  and  the  vain 
pomp  and  the  glory  of  this  world,  and  he  has  promised  on 
oath,  before  God  and  man,  not  to  follow  or  be  led  by  them. 
What  is  your  life?     There  is  that  Presbyterian,  consecra- 


78  Drawing  the  Lines, 

ted  to  God  by  the  most  solemn  ceremony  that  heaven  ever 
listened  to.  Now,  what  is  your  character?  There  is  the 
Ei^iscopalian;  with  the  imposing  hands  of  the  clergy  laid 
upon  his  head,  and  with  a  ceremony  as  solemn  as  eternity, 
he  was  dedicated  in  the  Church  to  God  last  night,  and  to- 
night he  is  in  the  biggest  ball  in  town,  dancing  his  way 
to  hell. 

SALVATION   DURING   LENT. 

And  no  longer  ago  than  this  very  year,  in  one  of  the 
cities  of  the  South,  one  gentleman  told  me — said  he:  "I 
saw  the  Episcopal  clergyman  lay  his  hand  on  the  heads  of  a 
class  of  twenty,  one  night,  and,'^  he  said,  "the  next  night 
eighteen  out  of  that  twenty  were  at  a  magnificent  ball/' 
Now,  you  say,  "I  wouldn't  have  done  that;  I  would  have 
waited  a  week."  Well,  if  a  fellow  is  going  to  do  it  at  all, 
better  get  right  at  it.  Don't  you  think  that's  so?  How 
long  ought  a  fellow  to  wait  after  he  joins  the  Church  before 
he  goes  at  his  devilment  ?     Now,  that's  it. 

I  wish  I  could  get  all  the  Methodists  and  Baptists  and 
Presbyterians  in  this  city,  and  all  other  churches,  to  live 
just  like  they  promised  to  live.  I  wish  I  could  get  all  the 
Episcopalians  in  town  to  be  as  good  out  of  Lent  as  they  are 
in  Lent.  That  would  be  good,  wouldn't  it?  And  I  never 
could  see  why  a  fellow  ought  not  to  be  as  good  one  time  as 
another.  Didj^ou?  I  never  could.  And  I  am  going  to  be 
just  as  good  the  year  round  as  any  Episcopalian  in  this 
town  is  during  Lent.  I  reckon  they  all  hope  to  die  in  Lent. 
If  a  heap  of  them  die  out  of  Lent  the  devil  will  get  them,  in 
my  judgment.  In  a  great  many  places  they  dance  Lent  in 
and  they  dance  it  out.  Like  the  Irishman  talking  about 
holydays  in  America — said  he,  ^^  Instead  of  hanging  our 
heads  and  sorrowing  over  the  crucifixion  of  our  Savior,  we 
Americans  fire  it  in  and  fire  it  out." 

FIGHTING   THE    DEVIL. 

Now,  I  don't  pick  out  any  denomination  and  say  anything 
about  one  denomination  that  I  would  not  say  about  another. 
There  is  no  denominationalism  in  this.  I  have  no  purpose 
and  no  desire  in  my  heart  to  say  one  thing  about  one  de- 
nomination that  I  would  not  say  against  another.  That  is 
true.      I  am  just  talking  true   things,  and  any   night  you 


Drawing  the  Lines,  79 

come  here,  if  you  don't  like  the  way  this  is  rattled  off,  you 
can  rack  out  of  here  just  the  minute  you  please.  For  I  pro- 
pose, God  being  my  helper,  to  speak  of  the  truth  as  I  see  it, 
and  I  don't  care  what  man,  or  devil,  or  cities,  or  earth,  or 
hell  may  say,  I  am  going  to  preach,  while  I  do  preach,  what 
I  believe  to  be  the  truth. 

And  I  will  tell  you  Christian  people,  if  you  think  the 
devil  is  going  to  surrender  any  ground  in  this  town  until 
every  inch  is  covered  with  blood,  you  do  not  know  the  devil 
as  well  as  I  do.  I  will  tell  you  that.  I  have  been  fightiug 
his  Majesty  several  years,  and  I  declare  to  you  that  he  is  al- 
ways ready  for  a  fight.  He  has  possessed  nearly  two-thirds 
of  this  city  for  nearly  forty  years,  and  if  you  think  he  is 
going  to  make  a  voluntary  surrender  of  his  territory  you  do 
not  know  him.  He  is  going  to  fight  and  fight,  and  every 
child  he  has  got  is  going  to  help  him;  you  can  put  that 
down.  And  I  tell  you  there  is  another  thing:  there  is  a 
heap  of  members  of  the  Church  going  to  help  him,  too.  They 
will  that.  Some  places  that  the  devil  goes  to  he  never  has 
anything  to  do  himself.  He  puts  his  hands  in  his  pockets 
and  goes  round  and  gets  members  of  the  Church  to  run  his 
devilment  for  him.  They  do  his  work  cheaper  for  him  than 
any  other  class.  He  don't  have  to  pay  them,  and  they  board 
themselves.  In  some  towns  the  leading  ball-room  dude  is  a 
member  of  the  Church — the  fellow  that  gets  them  all  up  and 
runs  the  thing. 

PARENTAL  RESPONSIBILITY. 

I  look  at  myself  as  a  member  of  the  Church.  Oh  me, 
brother!  When  you  see  yourself  as  a  member  of  the  Church, 
as  a  professor  of  religion,  it  will  do  you  good.  I  will 
ask  you  again,  did  you  ever  look  at  yourself  as  a  fath- 
er? Oh,  me!  how  close  you  get  to  a  man's  heart  when 
you  talk  to  him  of  his  family.  Brother  and  sister,  did 
you  ever  have  your  innocent  child  sit  on  your  lap,  put 
its  little  arms  round  your  neck  and  imprint  the  kiss  of 
innocence  on  your  cheek?  Have  you  ever  looked  on  your 
lovely  children  lying  in  their  bed,  and  said:  "  Of  all  the 
children  God  ever  gave,  my  children  have  the  purest 
and  best  of  fathers."  You  can  go  home  to-night  and  wake 
up  your  little  Willie.  Get  him  quite  awake,  and  ask  him, 
*'Who  is  the  best  man  in  St.  Louis  ?"  He  will  answer,  "Why, 


80  Drawing  the  Lines. 

you,  papa."  Ask  him,  ''Who  would  you  rather  be  most 
like  V  and  he  will  repl}^,  ''Why,  you,  papa/'  Ask  him  who 
is  the  best  man  in  the  world,  and  he  will  say,  "Why,  you,  pa- 
pa/' He  ain't  got  no  sense.  And  that  is  why  we  curse,  and 
damn  and  ruin  our  children.  They  can  see  no  harm  in  us, 
and  just  as  we  do  they  will  follow  and  imitate  us.  A  single 
man  may  drink  as  a  single  man  ;  he  may  swear ;  as  a  single 
man  he  may  lead  a  godless  life;  but  as  a  married  man  you  had 
better  call  a  halt  and  ask  where  you  are  leading  your  children 
to  day  by  day.  You  may  sit  in  the  chairs  of  this  hall  night 
after  nightj  you  may  simply  have  your  curiosity  excited;  you 
may  simply  come  here  to  laugh  ;  but  when  you  gather  your 
children  in  your  arms  and  see  thatyour  bad  example  is  lead- 
ing them  to  death  and  hell  there  is  no  joke  about  that — no 
laugh  about  that  I  God  pity  me  and  pity  you  in  our  rela- 
tions towards  those  that  lean  upon  us;  and  if  there  is  any 
fact  in  my  history  that  I  bless  God  for  in  my  heart  to-night, 
it  is  the  fact  that  not  a  sweet  child  of  mine  ever  looked  in 
my  face  when  I  was  not  a  Christian,  trying  to  serve  God  and 
set  it  a  good  example. 

Did  you  ever  look  at  yourself  as  a  mother?  Of  all  beings 
that  earth  claims  its  blessings  from,  it  looks  as  though  a 
mother  ought  to  be  the  best.  Mother,  what  is  your  life  be- 
fore your  children  ?  Consider  yourself  !  Did  you  ever  look 
at  your  children  till  you  saw  them?  Wife,  did  you  ever 
look  at  your  husband  till  you  saw  him  ?  Husband,  did  you 
ever  look  at  your  wife  until  you  saw  her?  If  there  is  any- 
body in  the  world  I  would  have  get  to  heaven,  it  is  my  wife; 
yet  there  is  a  husband  who  never  talked  ten  minutes  to  his 
wife  on  religion  ;  and  there  is  a  wife  who  never  opened  her 
mouth  to  her  husband  about  the  way  of  life.  Oh,  me;  when 
Ave  think  of  a  home  that  has  been  Christless,  what  a  sad 
thing! 

SEEING  ST.  LOUIS. 

And  then  we  ask  again,  did  you  ever  look  at  St.  Louis  until 
you  saw  it?  Did  you  ever  take  it  by  streets  and  blocks? 
Did  you  ever  count  the  bar-rooms  in  this  town  ?  Did  you  ever 
count  the  beer-gardens  in  this  town  ?  Did  you  ever  count 
the  number  of  men  that  went  in  and  out  of  the  bar-rooms 
and  beer-gardens  ?  I  bring  this  question  square  before  you. 
Did  you  ever  count  the  number  of  soiled  doves  that  curse 


Drawing  the  Lines,  81 

this  city  and  curse  themselves  ?  Oh,  my  Grod,  when  we  look 
at  these  pictures,  we  have  to  shut  our  eyes  and  drop  down 
upon  our  knees.  We  say,  *' God  deliver  us  and  God  speed 
us/'  Did  you  ever  count  the  billiard  tables  in  this  town? 
Did  you  ever  count  the  gambling  hells  in  this  town  ?  Oh, 
me!  No  wonder  this  one  writes  and  that  one  writes,  *'Jones, 
God  bless  you  !  turn  loose  your  guns  and  do  your  best  to 
wake  up  the  Christian  people  and  show  them  how  this  town 
by  streets  and  blocks  is  drifting  to  hell  every  day." 

Now,  I  am  going  to  stick  to  truth  while  I  am  here,  and  I 
say  to  every  man  and  to  every  influence  in  this  town,  un- 
friendly to  Christ  and  unfriendly  to  the  Bible,  to  fight  back. 
I  do  not  look  for  anything  else.  I  want  to  say  right  now  that 
I  like  to  see  things  moving  up,  and  if  you  can  say  anything 
worseof  me  than  lean  of  you,  lamm  in,  and  I  will  beat  you  up 
to  the  tank  in  that  line,  maybe.  Pickevery  flaw  you  can  in  ev- 
ery sermon,  and  if  I  cannot  pick  more  flaws  in  your  life  than 
3^ou  do  in  my  sermons  I  will  yield  the  feather  to  you.  I  say 
to  you  now,  we  propose  to  get  your  eyes  open  so  that  you 
can  see  yourselves.  That  is  the  first  sight  you  ought  to  look 
at.  Then  look  at  St.  Paul.  When  he  went  to  the  City  of 
Athens,  so  wholly  given  up  to  idolatry,  it  stirred  his  heart 
within  him.  I  have  heard  Christian  people  say  that  they 
had  no  feeling,  no  enthusiasm,  no  religious  fervor;  but  nev- 
er since  I  joined  Christ's  church  have  I  been  devoid  ojprelig- 
ious  fervor  and  enthusiasm.  The  man  who  goes  about  like 
a  corpse,  with  no  feeling,  no  enthusiasm,  that  man  is  either 
dead  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  or  he  has  closed  his  eyes  to 
what  is  going  on  about  him.  When  that  great  man  visited 
the  city  of  Athens,  so  wholly  given  up  to  idolatry,  it  stirred 
his  heart  within  him.  And  he  went  over  to  Mar's  Hill, 
pointed  to  the  inscription  ^' To  the  unknown  God,''  and 
preached  that  grand  sermon  generated  in  his  soul  as  he 
walked  through  the  streets  of  the  city  and  saw  that  it  was 
wholly  given  uj)  to  idolatry;  and  I  tell  you  to-night,  when  we 
see  ourselves  and  our  city  and  our  surroundings  as  they  are, 
there  is  hope  for  us. 

SEEING  THE  CROSS. 

There  is  just  one  thing  more  I  want  you  to  do — that  is,  to 
see  the  cross.  It  is  the  hope  of  the  world.  It  is  the  Balm  of 
Gilead.  It  has  the  power  to  save.   It  is  the  redemption  of  the 


82 


Drawing  the  Lines, 


race.  Ob,  my  brother,  it  was  fourteen  years  ago  and  a  few 
days,  when  I,  a  poor,  w^rctchcd,  ruined,  lost  sinner,  walked  up 
to  see  my  father  die.  Oh,  how  I  loved  that  father,  and  how 
I  broke  his  heart.  I  have  wished  a  thousand  times  that  I  had 
my  father  back  just  one  hour,  tliat  I  might  lean  my  head  on 
his  bosom  and  hear  him  speak  the  words  of  kindness  and  ad- 
vice he  has  spoken  to  me  in  the  past.  As  I  stood  by  his  dying 
couch  he  took  my  hand  in  his  bony  hand,  and  a  heavenly  smile 
rested  on  his  face  just  before  he  passed  out  of  this  world.  He 
did  not  die  ;  he  did  not  die.  His  faculties  were  as  bright  and 
his  hope  as  buoyant  in  the  very  agonies  of  death  as  they  ev- 


The  Great  Epoch  in  Sam  Jones'  Life, 

er  had  been.  As  I  took  his  bony  hand  he  said  :  '^  My  poor, 
wayward,  godless  boy  !  You  have  almost  broken  my  heart, 
and  you  have  given  me  so  much  trouble!  Won't  you  tell 
your  dying  father,  now,  that  you  will  meet  him  in  the  good 
world?"  I  stood  there  for  a  moment  convulsed  from  head 
to  foot.  I  said,  ''Yes,  father,  I  will  meet  you  in  the  good 
world."  I  turned  away  from  that  dying  couch,  and  every 
step  I  have  made  from  that  time  to  this  has  been  to  the  good 
world.  And  I  mean,  with  the  grace  of  Grod,  to  keep  my 
promise.  I  left  that  bed  a  wretched  sinner,  and  looked  to 
Grod.     I  looked  up  there  and 


Drawing  the  Zines.  83 

I  saw  one  hanging  on  the  tree 

In  agonies  of  blood. 
He  fixed  his  hinguid  eyes  on  me, 

As  near  his  cross  I  stood. 

Sure,  never  to  my  latest  breath  , 

Can  I  forget  that  look ; 
He  seemed  to  charge  me  with  his  death, 

Though  not  a  word  he  spoke.  , 

My  conscience  felt  and  owned  the  guilt 

And  plunged  me  in  despair  ; 
I  saw  my  sins  his  blood  had  spilled 

And  helped  to  nail  him  there. 

A  second  look  he  gave,  which  said  : 

"I  freely  all  forgive, 
My  blood  is  shed  to  ransom  thee, 

I  die  that  you  may  live." 

Blessed  Christ,  live  forever  to  save  dying  men. 


^EI^MON  IV. 


And  let  us  not  be  weary  in  well-doing,  for  in  due  season  we  shall  reap  if 
we  faint  not. — Galatiajsts  6  ;  9. 

JlJ^His  exhortation  may  be  wisely  and  prayerfully  consider- 
W  ed  by  us  now.     Moral  forces  necessarily  move  slowly. 
This  city   has   been  wicked  for    forty  years,  and  if  you 
think  it  can  be  brought  to  God  in  a  day  you  know  nothing 
of  moral  forces  and  how  they  operate.      This  exhortation 
comes  in  with  a  good  deal  of  force  upon  us  hereto-night: 
Let  us  not  be  weary  in  well-doing,  for  in  due  season — 
There's  the  promise — 

— for  in  due  season  we  shall  reap  if  we  faint  not. 
Well  now,  this  verse,  like  some  verse  of  almost  every 
chapter  in  the  Bible,  is  a  key  to  the  whole  chapter.  This 
chapter  before  us  to-night  is  a  great  palace  of  Scripture 
truth  and  this  text  is  a  key.  I  take  this  text  and  I  walk  up 
to  this  great  palace  of  truth,  and  I  unlock  the  front  door 
and  walk  in,  and  the  first  thing  my  eyes  fall  upon  is  this  : 
Brethren,  if  a  man  be  overtaken  in  a  fault,  ye  which  are  spiritual,  restore 
such  an  one  in  the  spirit  of  meekness. 

SELFISHNESS. 

Then  I  find  from  the  lesson  of  to-night  that  the  first  well- 
doing of  every  Christian  man  is  to  ignore  himself,  and  that 
of  every  good  man  to  live  for  others.  If  there  is  anything 
incompatible  with  Christianity  it  is  selfishness.  If  there  is 
anything  that  Christianity  fights  and  would  have  you  and 
me  put  out  of  the  way,  it  is  selfishness.  And  hell  itself  is 
nothing  but  pure,  unadulterated,  concentrated  selfishness. 
There  is  not  an  intolerable  element  in  hell  itself,  that  has 
not  in  it  every  element  of  selfishness.  Ko  man  is  in  a  posi- 
tion to  do  for  others  until  he  can  get  himself  out  of  the  way. 
The  greatest  man  I  ever  saw  was  the  most  unselfish  man.  The 
8t 


Perseverance  in  Well-Doing.  85 

smallest  man  I  ever  saw  was  the  most  selfish.  There  is  a 
little  preacher  upon  a  small  circuit  in  Georgia,  who,  when  I 
walk  up  into  his  presence,  grows  and  expands  and  develops, 
and  I  commence  to  whittle  and  whittle  down  until  I  feel 
like  a  mole-hill  by  a  mountain  ;  and  do  you  know  why  that 
man  seems  so  great  and  I  seem  so  small?  It  is  because 
when  I  look  into  his  face  I  look  into  the  face  of  the  most  un- 
selfish man  my  eyes  ever  looked  upon.  Why,  he  don't  care 
anything  for  himself.  His  last  thought  at  night,  is,  ^'How 
can  I  benefit  somebody  to-morrow?''  and  his  first  thought 
in  the  morning,  ''Where  may  I  go  and  what  may  I  do  to 
benefit  some  one  to-day?"  And  I  speak  the  honest  truth  to- 
night when  I  say:  that  man  don't  care  any  more  for  him- 
self than  he  cares  for  a  dog.  I  like  that  sort  of  man,  and  a 
man  is  never  in  position  to  do  for  others  until  he  gets  him- 
self down  and  gets  his  feet  on  himself  and  says  to  himself, 
^'Now  you  lie  there.  If  you  ever  get  up  or  open  your 
mouth  again,  I'll  mash  it.  I  never  intend  to  hear  from 
you  any  more.'' 

This  world  is  run  on  selfish  principles.  "How  much 
enjoyment  may  I  get  out  of  this,  and  how  much  profit  out  of 
that,  and  how  much  will  I  lose  by  the  other."  Selfishness 
always  defeats  itself — never  carries  its  point.  You  let  a 
man  live  for  himself,  and  lay  up  money  for  himself,  and 
provide  for  himself,  and  let  all  the  world  go.  "Let  all  the 
world  go,  but  I'm  going  to  lay  up  for  myself."  Why,  such 
a  I  <an  as  that  defeats  his  very  end.  In  our  State  there  was 
a  man  spent  his  life  laying  up  for  his  old  age.  He  says, 
"I'm  never  going  to  want.  I'm  going  to  lay  up  for  my  old 
age."  He  laid  up  $200,000,  and  this  will  illustrate  his  state 
of  mind:  One  of  his  neighbors  was  over  at  his  house  one 
day,  and  they  were  talking  about  one  thing  and  another,  and 
directly  the  neighbor  said,  "Well,  how  are  you  off  for  meat?" 
The  rich  old  fellow  said,  "Well,  I've  got  a  smoke-house  full 
now,  and  hogs  enough  to  make  me  meat  this  fall ;  and  pigs 
enough  to  make  it  full  afterwards  ;  but  what  in  the  world  I 
am  to  do  after  that  I  can't  tell!"  That  old  fellow  was 
starving  to  death  with  three  years'  rations  on  hand. 

UNSELFISHNESS. 

Selfishness!    Live  for  self;    love  for  self;  work  for  self, 


86  Perseverance  in  Well-Doing, 

and  let  all  the  world  go.  Now  that  sort  of  spirit  is  at  en- 
mity with  Christianity,  and  I  assure  you  that  Christianity 
is  at  enmity  with  a  spirit  like  that.  Our  Lord  taught  us  a 
great  lesson  in  unselfishness.  Do  you  know  that  among  all 
the  broad  acresof  this  world  Jesus  of  Nazareth  never  staked 
himself  off  a  single  acre,  and  told  the  world,  ^'That's  mine!" 
Do  you  know  that  amid  all  the  palaces  of  earth  Jesus  looked 
out  and  said  :  *'The  foxes  have  holes,  the  birds  of  the  air 
have  nests,  but  I  have  not  where  to  lay  my  head"?  Do 
you  know  that  amid  all  the  coin  on  earth,  Jesus,  when  press- 
ed for  his  taxes,  sent  his  disciples  to  a  fish's  mouth  to  get 
money  to  pay  them  ?  We  see  that  unselfish  one  as  he  arises 
in  the  morning,  and  after  a  simple  breakfast  at  the  home  of 
Mary  and  Martha,  he  walks  out  upon  the  streets  of  the  city, 
and  over  here  he  is  giving  sight  to  a  blind  man,  and  over 
there  he  is  healing  the  sick,  and  over  there  he  is  clean- 
sing a  leper,  and  in  the  afternoon  he  meets  a  widow 
bearing  her  son  to  the  tomb  to  bury  him,  and  he  takes 
the  son  by  the  hand  and  lifts  him  back  into  his  moth- 
er's loving  arms;  and  amid  the  shouts  of  praise  from  the 
mother's  lips  he  presses  his  way  until  he  reaches  the 
farthest  suburbs  of  the  city,  and  then  he  stops  by  the  road- 
side and  sits  down  and  leans  his  head  upon  his  own  aching 
arm,  and  he  says  :  ^'This  is  the  first  time  I  have  thought  of 
myself  since  I  got  up  this  morning.  I  have  just  been  think- 
ing about  others  ;  how  I  could  benefit  others  ;  how  I  could 
do  for  others;  I  have  been  hunting  the  blind;  I  have  been 
seeking  the  sick;  I  have  been  comforting  the  disconsolate." 
Oh,  Christ!  Thy  life  was  written  in  a  single  sentence:  "He 
went  about  doing  good."  And  the  man  who  is  most  like 
Christ  is  the  man  that  spends  most  of  the  hours  of  his  life 
just  like  Christ  did,  going  about  doing  good. 

And  after  all,  my  brethren,  religion  can  not  be  compassed 
by  services  like  this.  After  all,  there  is  something  more  in 
religion  than  revival  services  and  dedicated  churches  and 
paid  ministers  and  weekly  prayer-meetings.  After  all,  you 
cannot  compass  Christianity  in  the  mere  formalities  of 
your  church  and  the  songs  and  sermons  of  revival  meetings. 
And  Christianity  blesses  the  world,  and  will  bring  the 
world  to  God  just  in  proportion  as  mankind  will  crucify 
themselves  ^nd  live  for  others. 


Perseverance  in  Well-Doing,  8? 

Now  the  first  lesson  of  this  text  tells  us  : 

Brethren,  if  a  man  bo  taken  in  a  fault,  ye  which  are  spiritual  go  and  restore 
such  an  one  in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  considering  thyself  also,  lest  thou  be 
tempted. 

DIFFERENT    KINDS    OF    MEMBERS. 

I  used  to  think  there  was  a  great  deal  of  difference,  after 
all,  in  our  churches  and  in  the  membership  of  our  churches. 
I  have  thought,  after  all,  we  have  got  our  first-class  mem- 
bers and  our  second-class  members  and  our  tenth-rate  mem- 
bers, and  all  that  sort  of  thing.  But,  brethren,  the  great 
trouble  is,  we  can  hardly  find  a  whole  man  among  us.  We 
have  got  pieces  enough  to  make  a  thousand,  but  they  won't 
fit.  We  file  and  saw  and  chip  and  plug,  and  yet  here  we  are 
to-day  without  a  whole  man  in  the  City  of  St.  Louis. 

Now  we  say,  *'  There  are  a  great  many  different  sorts  of 
members  in  the  Church."  I  grant  you  that.  There  is  one 
brother.  He  says,  ''I  declare,  if  you  don't  turn  out  these 
dancing  members  I'm  going  to  quit  the  Church.  I  won't 
live  in  a  church  with  dancing  members."  You  see  he  don't 
dance;  but  I  tell  you  what  he  will  do,  every  day — loan  his 
money  at  twenty  per  cent,  interest;  and  God  says  that  the 
man  who  will  do  that  ain't  fit  for  the  church  and  will  never 
go  to  heaven.  Here's  another  brother.  He's  got  no  money 
to  loan  and  he  despises  dancing,  but  you  can  tote  him  right 
into  hell  with  a  demijohn,  he  does  love  liquor  so.  Here's 
another  member  of  the  church.  He  don't  drink,  and  don't 
lend  money  at  usury,  don't  dance,  but  he  will  skin  you  nine 
tim^  out  often  when  you  go  to  trade  with  him,  and  I  want 
to  say  this:  You  will  never  know  how  much  real  genuine 
scriptural  hell-fire  there  is  in  a  good  trade  till  you  get  to 
hell.  And  I  tell  you  another  thing.  We  can  sort  of  put  up 
with  a  fellow  that  sins  like  we  sin,  but  when  he  does  some- 
thing we  won't  do,  we  arc  ashamed  of  him  right  straight.  I 
declare  I  never  see  a  man  doing  anything  wrong  that  I  don't 
sort  of  get  off  to  myself  and  bury  my  face  in  my  hands  and 
say,  ''  Look-a-here  !  You  may  not  sin  like  that  man,  but  are 
you  not  doing  something  just  as  bad  in  the  sight  of  God?" 
I  say  we  can  put  up  with  a  man  as  long  as  he  sins  like  we 
do,  but  when  he  does  something  we  won't  do,  then  we'll 
fall  out  with  him  right  there  and  say,  "That  man 
won't  do." 


88  Perseverance  in  Well-Doing. 

THE  VIRUS  OP  BACKSLIDING. 

Now,  I  like  this  position.  If  there  is  in  your  church  an 
incorrigible  backslider,  then  every  man  in  it  has  blackslid- 
den.  You  say,  "How  do  you  know  that?''  Well,  sir,  the 
spirit  that  will  make  you  neglect  a  backslidden  brother,  I 
don't  care  what  else  you  do  or  what  else  you  don't  do,  that 
spirit  will  make  you  backslide  in  spite  of  all  you  can  do. 
For  if  Christianity  is  anything  it  is  brotherly  kindness  in 
all  its  living,  active  force,  and  if  I  have  no  more  of  the  spirit 
of  Christ  than  to  let  a  brother  stray  off  and  off  and  off  and 
finally  be  lost,  then  I  have  none  at  all  of  the  spirit  of  Christ. 
IS'ow,  here  we  are;  the  churches  in  this  town  looking  to  see 
a  gracious  revival  and  thousands  of  souls  turned  to  God; 
they  would  like  to  see  millions  of  people  brought  to  Christ. 
Well,  brother,  it  is  one  thing  to  bring  a  soul  to  Christ,  and 
it  is  another  thing  to  look  after  him  after  he  gets  there.  Take 
an  instance  like  this,  happening  in  Rome,  Ca.  The  pastor 
of  the  leading  church  in  that  city  told  me  the  incident.  He 
said  that  a  young  man,  perhaps  twenty-two  or  twenty-three 
years  old,  was  dying  with  consumption,  and  just  the  day  be- 
fore he  died  the  young  man  said  this:  ^'BrotherL ,  you 

are  my  pastor.  I  belong  to  j^our  church.  I  joined  your 
church  three    years    ago,  and  I  have   tried  to    live   right 

and    do    my    duty;  but,''    said    he,     "Brother  L ,  not 

a  single  member  of  your  Church  ever  opened  his  mouth 
to  me  on  the  subject  of  religion.  Not  one  came  to  me 
to  speak  a  word  of  comfort  or  a  word  of  cheer  to  me,  or  a 
word  of  encouragement.  And  say  to  your  church  as  you 
preach  my  funeral,  that  with  three  hundred  and  sixty  odd 
members,  they  have  never  been  any  help  to  me.  And  tell 
them  when  I  am  dead  and  gone,  never  to  do  any  poor  boy 
as  they  have  done  me — ^just  leave  him  to  himself  and  tell 
him  to  rough  it."  And  I  tell  you  to-day,  from  all  the  Chris- 
tian churches  in  this  country,  men  and  women  have  strayed 
off  and  made  their  way  to  hell  that  you  never  oper^ed  your 
mouth  to  on  the  subject  of  religion. 

INTRODUCTIONS  IN    HEAVEN. 

Oh,  what  a  sad  thought  in  human  history!  The  brother- 
hood in  Christ  Jesus,  the  fatherhood  of  God,  the  brother- 
hood of  the  whole  race.    I  declare  to  you  to-day,  thera  is 


Perseverance  in  Weil-Doing.  89 

nothing  that  I  wouldn't  do  for  my  brother;  tnete  is  nothing 
that  I  wouldn't  sacrifice  for  my  sister;  ihe^-e  is  no  place  at 
the  table  too  good  for  my  brother;  there  is  no  room  in  my 
house  too  good  for  my  sister.  And  I  say  to  you  all  to-night 
that  the  brotherly  kindness  and  the  brotherly  love  that 
ought  to  be  manifested  one  toward  another  have  well-nigh 
died  out  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  Instead  of  helping  each 
other  and  joining  hands  and  marching  like  a  band  of  broth- 
ers all  through  the  world,  tnere  are  members  of  different 
churches  that  don't  know  a  dozen  members  of  the  same 
church  they  belong  to.  1  have  told  them  sometimes  that 
I  expect,  if  they  were  Vo  get  to  heaven — if  they  were  for- 
tunate enough  to  get  there — the  angels  would  be  kept  busy 
several  years  introdTJicing  them  to  one  another.  Members  of 
the  same  church,  living  for  ten  or  twenty  years  in  the  same 
church,  going  to  heaven  from  the  same  church,  if  such  a 
thing  were  posbiV>le,  and  then  to  have  to  be  introduced  in 
heaven,  on  the  streets  of  glory,  by  the  angels,  to  one  anoth- 
er.    Why,  that  won't  do  ! 

If  a  Mason  were  to  come  here  to  St.  Louis  and  he  needed 
assistance  and  needed  help,  and  he  was  a  Methodist  as  well 
as  a  Mason,  which  would  he  go  to,  the  Methodist  Church  or 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  for  help?  If  a  man  were  an  Odd  Fel- 
low and  a  Baptist,  to  which  class  would  he  go  to  get  means 
to  follow  his  j  -urney  ?  Would  he  go  to  the  Odd  Fellows  or 
go  to  the  Baptists?  Ah,  brother,  the  Irishman  told  a  great 
truth  when  he  said:  ^'  If  there  was  a  little  more  of  the  milk 
of  human  kindness  in  this  world,  what  a  grand  world  we 
would  have."  I  tell  you  I  had  frequently  rather  go  to  a 
wholesale  liquor  dealer  to  get  help  than  go  to  some  mem- 
bers of  the  Church.  These  members  of  the  Church  ''broth- 
er" a  fellow  for  about  six  months,  and  then  think  he  belongs 
to  them ;  and  that  is  just  about  the  way  the  thing  goes. 

A  CHRISTIAN  LAWYER. 

And  we  can  never  accomplish  what  we  ought  to  as  a 
Church  unless  this  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  and  of  brotherly 
kindness  and  love  shall  take  possession  of  us.  I  can  tell  you 
of  a  lawyer,  some  fifty  years  of  age,  who  joined  the  Church 
of  which  I  was  pastor,  in  one  of  the  wickedest  counties  in 
Georgia.     That  man  has  never  backslidden  an  inch  in  his 


90  Perseverance  in  Well-Doing, 

life  since  he  joined  the  Church.  An  old  brother  at  a  camp- 
meeting  once  turned  to  me  and  said:  *^  Jones,  haven't  you 
been  a  wonderful  backslider  in  your  day  V^  Said  I :  "I  don't 
know  ;  why  ?"  "  AVell,"  he  says,  ''  you  seem  to  know  more 
backsliders  than  I  ever  saw  in  my  life."  ^'Well,"  said  I, 
"  brother,  I  ought  to  begin  to  know  something  about  them. 
I  have  never  associated  with  any  other  sort  since  I  joined 
the  Church."  A  fellow  will  learn  something  once  in  awhile 
if  he  will  keep  eyes  and  ears  open.  Now,  why  was  it  this 
lawyer  never  backslid  an  inch?  Do  you  want  to  know  why  ? 
He  literally  spent  his  life  looking  after  backsliders.  Shortly 
after  he  joined  the  Church  he  commenced  working  with  the 
brethren.  If  he  saw  two  members  of  the  Church  quarreling 
on  the  street,  no  matter  what  Church  they  belonged  to,  he 
went  out  and  put  his  hands  on  each's  shoulder  and  said: 
*' You  are  my  brother.  You  are  brethren  to  one  another. 
You  musn't  quarrel  or  fuss.  If  this  is  a  question  of  financial 
difference,  I  will  pay  the  money  out  of  my  own  pocket  be- 
fore I  will  see  brothers  fussing."  And  if  a  member  of  the 
Church  went  into  a  grocery  to  get  a  drink,  he  ran  right  in 
after  him — not  to  take  a  drink  with  him,  like  some  of  you 
do — but  to  bring  him  out  of  there.  And  he  walked  into  the 
grocery,  and  said  he:  "  My  brother,  don't  drink  that,  because 
Christian  people  ought  not  to  drink.  I  used  to  drink  when 
I  was  a  child  of  the  devil,  but  we  can't  drink  T^hisky  and  be 
religious.  My  brother,  walk  out  of  here."  And  he  would 
carry  the  brother  out  of  there. 

A   PRACTICAL   TEMPERANCE    REFORMER. 

And  if  a  member  of  the  Church  got  so  drunk  on  the  street 
that  he  could  not  walk  home,  he  would  say  to  another  man  : 
''Here  is  my  brother  drunk  on  the  street;  will  you  help  to 
carry  him  down  to  the  house  with  me?"  And  he  would  carry 
that  poor  drunken  fellow  down  to  his  house  and  say  to  his 
wife — the  Major  called  his  wife  Sister  Martha  and  Mar}^ — 
and  she  was  the  best  Martha  I  most  ever  saw,  and  she  was 
the  best  Mary  I  think  I  ever  saw.  She  was  good  on  both 
sides.  She  would  sit  at  the  Savior's  feet,  and  when  she 
came  to  house-keeping  everything  about  her  home  would 
shine — and  he  would  say,  "Sister  Martha  and  Mar}^,  here 
is  one  of  our  brothers  slipped  up;  he's  done  a  little  wrong; 


Perseverance  in  Weil-Doing. 


91 


fix  a  bed  ;  let  us  put  our  brother  to  bed/'  And  he  would 
be  put  to  bed  and  the  Major  would  sit  by  his  side  and  say 
to  his  wife:  '^Fix  a  nice  cup  of  coffee  for  our  brother  to 
drink  when  he  wakes,  and  I'll  pick  out  a  few  verses  of  Scrip- 
ture to  read' to  him,  and  I  think  he  won't  get  drunk  any 
more."  And  when  he  would  wake  up  the  Major  would  say 
to  him,  "Now  drink  some  of  Sister  Martha  and  Mary's  cof- 
fee.'* And  then  he  would  show  her  the  wash-stand  and 
towel  and  invite  her  to  wash  the  dirt  off  his  face,  and  when 
he  was  straightened  up  he  would  kneel  down  with  her  and 
pray,  "God  help  my  brother.  He  has  made  a  little  slip,  be- 
ing tempted,  but  I  don't  think  he'll  do  it  any  more."     And 


Sistei^  Martha  and  Mary  and  ihe  Majo7\ 
he  never  had  to  take  a  man  to  his  house  but  once.     The  first 
dose  of  that  treatment  generally  fetched  them. 

A  sister  may  s«:Ay,  "Ah,  me !  I  would  have  no  drunken  dog 
in  my  bed!"  That  is  because  you  are  a  good  Sister  Mar- 
tha, but  you  are  a  failure  as  a  Mary.     Don't  you  see? 

THE  QUESTION  OF  SELF-SACRfFTCE. 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  lay  out  on  that  mountain  top,  bleak 
and  dark  and  dreary,  for  forty  days  and  forty  nights,  and 
suffered  for  you;  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  wej^t  and  prayed  in 
the  Garden  of  Gethsemane,  with  a  bloody  sweat  bursting 


92  Perseverance  in  Well-Doing. 

from  his  body,  and  expired  on  Calvary  for  you  :  and  there 
you  are,  claiming  to  have  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  you  would 
not  soil  one  of  your  snow-white  counterpanes  to  save  a  soul 
from  hell !  Do  you  call  that  religion?  Ah,  me  !  We've  got 
to  be  different  if  we  ever  do  anything.  We  go  to  church  and 
sing- 
Christ  gave  his  life  for  me. 

And  then  we'll  break  out  on  the  next  line — 

What  have  we  done  for  him  ? 
Just  like  as  if  we  had  done  everything.     And  then  we'll 
take  up  the  next  verse — 

Christ  suffered  much  for  me. 
And  then  we'll  break  out  on  the  next  line — 

What  have  I  suffered  for  him  ? 

And  there  seems  to  be  an  exultation  of  soul  as  we  strike 
that  second  line.  Brother,  sister,  look  at  the  life  and  char- 
acter of  Jesus  Christ  ?  Take  the  life  and  character  of  Paul! 
Take  the  life  and  character  of  those  men  who  rotted  to  death 
in  dungeons,  and  who  died  at  the  stake,  and  who  were  im- 
prisoned and  striped  and  abused  for  you  and  me,  and  then 
let  us  look  how  our  hands  have  grown  soft  and  white,  and 
our  own  personal  interest  has  absorbed  all  our  energies  and 
all  our  efforts. 

WHERE    THE    RUB    COMES    IN. 

I'll  tell  you  where  the  rub  is.  There  is  a  member  of  the 
Church  and  here  is  a  poor  drunkard  ;  he  walks  up  and  gives 
his  heart  to  God  and  joins  the  Church,  and  that  member  of 
the  Church  sits  back  there  and  shakes  his  head,  ^'Oh,  my 
soul!  I  wish  that  fellow  hadn't  joined  our  Church;"  and 
then,  about  three  months  after  that,  the  poor  fellow  has  tried 
to  be  faithful,  but  under  temptation  fell,  and  then  the 
brother  meets  the  preacher,  and  he  tells  him :  "I  knew  you 
ought  not  to  have  taken  that  man  into  our  Church;  I  knew 
when  he  joined  he  would  be  disgracing  our  Church."  And 
I  will  tell  you  another  thing  :  That  poor  fellow  lying  there 
in  the  gutter  is  a  gentleman  and  a  scholar  and  a  Christian 
beside  of  that  old  Pharisee  who  stands  by  the  side  of  him 
and  says,  "  Just  look  at  that !     Just  look  at  that !" 

We  have  too  much  just  such  Phariseeism  in  this  city  as 
that.    My  G-od !    Help  us  to  see  that  Jesus  Christ  died  for 


Perseverance  in  Well-Doing,  93 

the  poorest  and  meanest  wretch  that  ever  walked  on  the  face 
of  the  earth,  and  we  can  do  nothing  that  can  glorify  Christ 
more  than  to  put  our  arms  around  a  poor,  ruined  wretch  and 
bring  him  to  God.  And  I  praise  my  Savior  now  and  forever 
that  he  is  more  able  and  willing  to  save  the  lowest,  mean- 
est man  on  earth  than  any  other  character  that  lives.  That 
man  may  be  so  mean  that  the  common  people  on  the  street 
kick  him  out  of  their  way,  the  bar-roQms  have  kicked  him 
out  at  the  door,  his  very  wife  has  fled  from  him,  but  Christ 
says  to  all  of  us,  when  our  father  and  mother  forsake  us 
then  he  will  take  us  up.  Oh,  Christ !  let  the  race  of  man  be 
as  good  to  each  other  as  thou  art  good  to  us ! 

A   KENTUCKY   STORY. 

In  the  Fifth  and  Walnut  Church,  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  two 
years  ago,  one  night  during  a  revival  meeting,  fifteen  men 
came  up  and  took  the  front  seats,  and  those  fifteen  men  on 
that  front  pew  were  the  very  imps  of  the  devil.  I  never 
looked,  and  no  man  ever  looked,  at  such  men  in  the  Church 
of  God.  IN'ow,  how  about  those  fifteen  men  ?  The  pastor  of 
that  church — one  of  the  sweetest  spirited,  most  Christly 
men  I  ever  saw — he  went  to  each  one  and  took  his  name  and 
said  to  him,  ''Please  remain  here  after  this  service.''  There 
sat  the  son  of  old  Col.  Harney,  the  editor  of  the  Louisville 
Democrat,  that  had  been  drunk  on  the  streets  of  Louisville 
for  twenty  years  ;  and  here  was  another,  the  veriest  repro- 
bate that  ever  walked  the  face  of  the  earth;  and  here  was 
another,  and  there  was  another,  and  there  the  fifteen  men 
sat,  the  ver}^  imps  of  the  devil,  at  the  very  gates  of  hell,  and 
that  preacher  took  their  names  and  asked  them  to  remain. 
He  took  his  board  of  stewards  and  said,  after  services: 
"Now,  let  us  take  these  fifteen  men  to  the  bath-room,  and 
let  us  take  them  to  the  clothing  house  and  let  us  put  clothes 
on  them  and  have  them  made  respectable  and  win  them  to 
Christ."  And  I  was  at  that  Louisville  Church  just  fifteen 
months  after  that.  Now,  how  about  the  fifteen  ?  One  of 
them  had  died — had  gone  home  to  heaven  ;  one  of  them  had 
backslid;  but  thirteen  of  the  most  earnest  workers  at  the 
Fifth  and  Walnut  Church  came  off  that  front  bench  that  I 
have  been  talking  to  you  about;  and  the  son  of  Col.  Har- 
ney, of  the  Louisville  Democrat^  a  book-keeper  for  the  Louis- 


94  Perseverance  in  Well-Doing^ 

ville  and  Nashville  Eailroad,  that  same  man  would  jump  up 
in  the  meeting  now  and  then,  and  say:  "Glory  to  God  !  I 
get  up  to  say  that  God  has  saved  the  lowest  sinner  that  lived 
in  Louisville/'  God  help  us  to  go  out  among  the  wharf  rats 
and  the  degraded  of  this  town  and  bring  them  to  Christ. 
Poor  fellows  !  How  sorry  we  ought  to  be  for  them.  They 
are  kicked  and  cuffed  about  by  humanity,  and  they  toil  every 
day  for  the  meat  they  eat  at  night,  and  with  the  poor,  cold 
house,  and  the  shivering  wife,  and  the  ragged  children. 
God  help  us  to  do  what  we  can  for  those  poor  degraded 
men!  And  when  we  see  such  a  spirit  as  that  among  you 
all,  then  you  may  look  for  God  to  touch  this  city  with  a 
power  that  will  move  it  from  center  to  circumference. 

HELP,  NOT    CRITICISM. 
Brethren,  if  a  man  be  overtaken  in  a  fault,  ye  which  are  spiritual  go  and 
restore  him. 

It  is  not  your  business  to  criticise  or  say : 

"Just  look  how  that  man  has  degraded  the  Church  and 
disgraced  Christianity;''  but  it  is  your  business  to  go  out  to 
him,  and  rescue  him  and  bring  him  back  to  God.  There 
is  many  a  member  of  the  Church  strayed  off  to-night  and 
wandering  away  from  God,  that  would  have  been  a  good 
active  member  of  the  Church  if  you  had  been  a  brother, 
indeed,  to  him.  Brethren,  if  a  man  be  overtaken  in  a  fault,  ye 
which  are  spiritual  go  and  restore  him.  "Why?  If  you  don't 
you  will  backslide  yourself.  The  spirit  that  makes  j^ou  neg- 
lectyour  brother  will  make  you  backslide  inevitably.  Bishop 
Marvin,  the  noble  man  that  died  in  your  midst,  related  an 
incident  how  the  faithful  class  leaders  cared  for  a  poor 
drunken  man  and  straightened  him  up,  and  brought  him  to 
God,  and  took  him  into  the  Church,  and  labored  with  him, 
and  labored  for  him,  and  had  him  praying  night  and  morn- 
ing in  his  famil}^,  and  how  that  man  moved  farther  out  West, 
and  how  that  man  lived  right  there  for  several  months,  and 
how  his  wife  wrote  back  to  the  noble  class  leaders  and  said 
to  them:  "My  husband  died  happy  last  night,  and  said: 
^  Write  it  back  to  my  faithful  class  leaders  that  there  is  an- 
other sinner  saved  by  Christ.'  " 

Brethren,  let  us  look  to  our  Christianity.  Does  it  send  us 
out  to  those  that  need  us?      Is  it  bringing  others  to  Christ 


Perseverance  in   Well-Doing. 


95 


through  us?  Are  wc  spending  and  being  spent  year  after 
year  in  the  great  work  of  seeing  that  souls  are  marching 
home  to  Grod? 

BEARING  others'  BURDENS. 

Then  I  take  this  key  and  open  into  another  apartment  of 
this  chapter,  and  I  read  this  : 

Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens,  and  so  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ. 

I  see  in  the  Church  of  God  that  all  of  its  duties  rest  upon 
a  few  in  all  the  churches.     If  you  want  any  praying  done, 


The  Preacher  and  His  Church  Load. 
call  on  Brother  A.;  if  you  want  any  paying  done,  call  on 
Brother  B.,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing.  And  I  want  to  tell 
you  to-night,  we  can  never  make  the  Church  what  it  ought 
to  be,  until  every  man  shall  bear  one  another's  burdens.  We 
must  do  our  part  in  all  the  phases  of  church  work.  I  will 
tell  how  the  thing  stands  now.  You  go  about  through  the 
community,  and  you  will  find  the  whole  of  the  Church  up  in 
the  wagon — the  whole  thing  ;  some  of  them  up  there  laugh- 
ing, some  dancing,  some  cursing,  some  shouting,  some  pray- 
ing— the  whole  thing  up  in  the  wagon,  and  the  poor  little 
preacher  out  in  the  shafts  trying  to  pull  the  thing  to  glory, 
and  every  little  while  some  fellow  up  in  the  wagon  will  say, 
''Tap  him  up  a  bit !     Move  him  up  a  little^  boys  ! "  and  feed- 


96  Perseverance  in  Weil-Doing, 

ing  him  on  wheat  straw  all  the  year  round.     No  horse  ever 
made  2 :  40  on  wheat  straw. 

SHARING    THE    WORK. 
Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens. 

Listen  !  If  I  were  to  go  fishing  to-morrow  with  four  men, 
and  we  were  to  buy  twenty-five  cents'  worth  of  lard  to  fry 
our  fish,  and  we  had  to  get  wood  to  fry  them,  and  prepare 
them  to  fry,  if  I  didnH  pay  my  five  cents  of  that  quarter, 
and  I  didn't  get  my  part  of  the  wood,  and  do  my  part  of  the 
cleaning  of  the  fish,  I  would  not  consider  myself  a  gentle- 
man, much  less  a  Christian.  If  I  was  a  member  of  any 
Church  in  this  town,  and  I  didn't  do  my  part  of  the  paying, 
and  my  part  of  the  praying,  and  my  part  of  the  everything 
that  was  done,  I  wouldn'tconsidermyself  a  gentleman,  much 
less  a  Christian.  The  shirks  and  sharks  in  the  Church  !  And 
the  shirk  don't  run  long  until  he  turns  to  the  shark.  He 
will  shirk  every  day,  and  like  the  old  shark  he'll  eat  every- 
thing within  a  mile  of  him.  There's  a  good  deal  of  that  sort 
going  on  in  the  world.  And  I  will  tell  you  where  all  the 
growling  comes  in.  These  fellows  that  don't  pay  any  and 
don't  pray  any,  they  are  the  growlers,  and  there  ought  to  be 
an  addition  to  every  church  in  this  country,  and  call  it  ''The 
Growlery,"  and  run  them  in  there.  If  there  is  anything  in 
the  world  I  have  got  a  contempt  for  it  is  to  see  two  or  three 
fellows  sitting  back  in  a  Pullman  sleeper  with  a  dead-head 
ticket  in  their  pockets  quarreling  with  the  conductor  about 
how  he  is  pulling  the  train. 
Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens. 

Bear  part  in  the  great  work  of  bringing  the  world  to  God. 

THE  VIRTUE    OF    DOING. 

Then  I  take  this  same  key  and  open  into  another  apart 
ment  and  I  read  this  : 

Tor  if  a  man  think  himself  something  when  he  is  (or  when  he  does) 
nothing,  he  deceiveth  himself. 

What  a  man  does  is  the  test  of  what  a  man  is.  If  what  a 
man  does  is  not  a  test  of  what  a  man  is,  then  what  a  man  pays 
is  the  test  of  what  a  man  is.  I  can  sort  of  put  up  with  a  fel- 
low in  the  Church  that  won't  do  anything,  but  who'll  pay 
well.  There  ain't  a  railroad  in  heaven  or  earth  that  don't 
charge  extra  for  a  sleeper,  and  you  ought  to  pay  it.     That's 


Ferseverance  in  Well-Doing, 


97 


the  truth  about  it.  I  believe  in  doing  the  thing  yourself  or 
hiring  somebody  else  to  do  it.  I  will  either  pray  every  time 
they  call  on  me  at  church,  or  I  will  have  a  fellow  there  paid 
by  the  month  to  do  my  praying — one  or  the  other.  And  that's 
the  only  honest  way  to  get  out  of  it,  sir.  You've  got  a  good 
many  elements  of  the  hog  in  youif  j^ou  donHrunitthat  way. 
I  declare  to  you,  this  shirking  spirit — want  all,  all,  all  that 
can  come  to  you,  and  yet  never  give  back  anything — is  too 
prevalent  in  the  Church  to-day.  And  a  man  gets  out  of  his 
religion  just  in  proportion  as  he  puts  into  it.  I  used  to  be 
pastor;  and  I'll  toll  you  another  thing:  I  never  had  a  mem- 
ber of  my  Church  in  my  life  that  would  not  pray  in  public 
and  pray  in  his  family  that  was  any  account — never  did. 
They  may  be  all  right — I  reckon  they  are — here  in  St.  Louis, 
but  I  am  talking  of  away  down  in  Georgia. 

THEATER-GOING    CHRISTIANS. 

How  many  theater-going  Christians  pray  in  public  and 
pray  in  their  families?  I  want  every  Christian  man  here 
to-night  who  prays  in  his  . 

family  night  and  morning,  ^ '^. 

who  goes  to  prayer  meet- 
in-g  every  Wednesday 
night  and  prays  when 
they  call  on  him,  who  vis- 
its the  sick  and  reads  the 
Bible  to  them  and  prays 
for  them,  and  who  goes  to 
the  theater — I  want  you 
to  stand  up.  I  want  to  see 
how  many  there  are  here. 
[Nearly  every  one  in  the 
house  looked  around  to 
see  if  any  one  stood  up.] 
Oh,  you  need  not  be  look- 
ing around!  I  just  want 
to  see  one  Christian  who 
is  doing  his  duty  and  run- 
ning to  ball  rooms,  thea- 
ters, circuses,  cards  and  '^"^  /owes'  Ideal  Circus  Crowd. 
such  like.  Now  I  hardly  ever  mention  circuses.  They  are  too 


98  Perseverance  in  Well-Doing. 

low-down  for  me.  Down  South  all  trashy  niggers  and  low- 
down  white  folks  go  to  circuses.  My  typical  idea  of  a  circus 
crowd  is  a  sot,  a  one-eyed  nigger  and  a  dog.  I  think  that 
is  a  pretty  good  circus  crowd,  and  if  I  was  a  sot,  or  a  one- 
eyed  darkey,  or  a  dog,  I  would  go  to  a  circus,  but  I  never 
will  go  to  one  until  I  get  to  be  one  of  those  things. 

What  a  man  does  is  the  test  of  what  he  is,  and  when  he 
does  these  things  he  does  not  do  those  things.  When  he 
does  these  things  that  are  right  he  won't  do  the  other 
things.  Now  listen  to  me,  my  friend.  If  I  am  doing  my  duty 
toward  God  I  am  not  running  into  these  other  things.  You 
ask  me  how  I  know,  and  I  tell  you  I  have  tried  it.  I  know 
how  it  goes.  I  know  from  personal,  practical  experienee 
that  a  man  who  j^rays  in  his  family,  and  who  prays  in  pub- 
lic, and  who  lives  rightly  before  the  community,  does  not 
go  to  such  places. 

A   GOOD   WORD   FOR   "rIP." 

And  you  say:  ''Jones,  what  are  you  always  fighting  the 
theater  for?  Why,  don'tyou  think  Joe  Jefferson  is  a  worthy 
and  good  man?''  Certainly  I  do,  and  if  you  will  kill  all  the 
other  tribe  off  but  Joe,  I  will  never  say  another  word  against 
theaters.  'Now,  what  do  you  say?  You  say,  "Let us  re- 
form the  theater."  That  would  be  like  a  lot  of  girls  who, 
in  a  certain  town,  married  all  the  drunken  boys  to  reform 
them,  and  now  there  are  more  little  old  ''whipper-will" 
widows  round  that  town  than  you  ever  saw.  That  is  ''sorter" 
like  a  fellow  pitching  in  and  drinking  up  a  barrel  of  whisky 
to  keep  the  whisky  from  doing  any  harm. 

What  a  man  does  is  the  test  of  what  he  is.  If  he  runs  on 
that  line,  there  is  the  test.  If  he  runs  on  this  line,  there  is 
the  test;  and  if  a  man  thinks  he  must  be  doing  some- 
thing when  he  is  doing  nothing,  he  decciveth  himself. 
What  an  engine  does  is  a  test  of  what  an  engine  is.  When 
the  President  of  the  Wabash  Road  writes  to  Mr.  Rog- 
ers, at  his  locomotive-works,  and  says,  "I  want  an  engine 
that  will  pull  twenty  cars  up  a  grade  of  so  many  feet  to  the 
mile,"  Mr.  Rogers  sends  an  engine.  They  couple  twenty 
cars  to  it  and  start  it  up  the  grade,  but  it  stands  stock  still  -, 
and  the  President  of  the  railroad  telegraphs  to  Mr.  Rogers: 
<'Come  after  your  engine;  I  don't  want  it."     Mr.  Rogers 


Perseverance  in  Well-Doing.  99 

comes.  They  walk  up  to  the  engine  and  he  says  :  ''Look  at 
that  cab;  it's  the  nicest  cab  ever  sent  out  of  the  shop.  Look 
at  that  bright  piston  rod ;  how  it  glistens  in  the  sunshine. 
Look  at  those  magnificent  driving  wheels."  The  President 
replies,  "I  never  said  anything  to  you  about  cabs  or  piston 
rods  or  driving  wheels.  I  want  an  engine  that  will  take 
these  cars  up  that  grade."  Another  engine  is  built  and  it  is 
ready  for  the  trial.  They  fire  her  up  until  the  guage  indicates 
one  hundred  and  sixty  pounds  pressure  to  the  square  inch.  The 
engineer  opens  the  throttle.  The  engine  starts  up  hill  mov- 
ing the  cars  with  it,  and  when  it  turns  the  grade  it  seems  to 
say,  ''I  could  have  pulled  up  ten  more  cars  if  you  had  put 
them  on  the  train."  The  President  says :  "That  is  what  we 
want." 

Grod  does  not  want  you  because  you  live  in  a  four  story 
house.  He  does  not  want  you  because  you  have  the  finest 
turnout  in  town.  He  does  not  want  you  because  you  are  the 
President  of  the  leading  bank.  But  God  wants  j^ou  for  what 
you  can  do.  Sister,  Grod  docs  not  want  you  for  how  you  can 
dress  your  children  or  how  bang  your  hair.  God  wants  you 
for  whatj^ou  can  do.  There  is  many  a  Pauline  Christian 
around  in  this  country.  They  exclaim  :  "Paul  says  it  is  a 
shame  for  women  to  speak  in  public."  Paul  also  said  :  "It 
is  a  shame  for  woman  to  cut  her  hair  off."  How  do  you 
get  along  there  ?  You  are  Pauline  when  you  want  to.be  and 
un-Pauline  where  you  want  to  be.  Lord,  have  mercy  on  us  ! 
What  a  man  does  is  a  test  of  what  he  is.  What  a  women  does 
is  a  test  of  what  she  is.  God  does  not  want  to  know  what 
you  have,  how  you  look  or  where  you  live;  but  God  does 
want  to  know  how  much  you  can  do  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 

CATS  AS  A  TEST  FOR  HOLINESS. 

I  turn  again  to  this  chapter  and  read. 
Every  man  shall  bear  his  own  burden. 

There  are  some  things  you  cannot  delegate  to  another,  I 
have  a  contempt  for  those  folks  who,  when  I  go  to  their 
house,  want  me  to  conduct  family  prayers  for  them,  and  who 
uever  have  any  at  any  other  time.  Somehow  there  is  always 
something  that  will  let  the  secret  out.  If  a  fellow  is  not  in 
the  habit  of  praying  with  his  family  you  can  always  find  it 
out  without  asking  a  question.     An  old  preacher  once  went 

7 


100  Perseverance  in  Well-Doing. 

to  a  place  like  that.  They  asked  him  to  read  a  chapter  of 
the  Bible  and  pray  with  them.  After  he  had  read  the  chapter 
of  the  Scriptures  they  all  knelt  down,  and  as  they  did  so  all 
the  cats  jumped  out  of  the  window.  They  had  never  seen 
anything  like  that  before,  and  they  did  not  know  what  was 
happening.  I  expect  there  is  many  a  professing  Christian 
in  this  house  to-night,  at  whose  home  prayer  is  so  great  a 
stranger  that  if  you  were  to  pray  with  them  the  cats  would 
jump  out  of  the  window.  It  is  something  unusual  with  them. 
I  really  believe  some  of  us  are  like  the  man  I  once  heard  Dr. 
Young  tell  of.  He  awoke  one  morning  and  said  to  himself: 
"  I  have  been  a  member  of  the  church  for  fifteen  years,  and 
I  have  never  been  religious  a  single  day."  Afterward  he  lay 
thinking,  and  finally  said, "  I  am  going  to  put  in  this  day  as 
a  Christian  man.  I  am  going  to  do  my  best  this  day  to  be  re- 
ligious. He  got  up  out  of  his  bed  and  kneeling  down  beside  it 
said,  "Oh  Lord,  help  me  to  be  a  Christian  this  day.  Help  me 
this  day  to  live  aright/'  Then  he  rose  from  his  knees,  and 
before  the  breakfast  bell  rang  he  called  his  wife  and  family 
into  the  family  room  and  said,  ''  Take  your  seats.  Tm  going 
to  read  a  chapter  with  you  all.  I  have  never  lived  religious 
one  day  in  my  life,  but  by  God's  grace  I  am  going  to  put  in 
one  day  religiously."  Then  he  read  a  chapter  of  the  Bible 
and  offered  up  prayer.  After  breakfast  he  bade  his  wife  and 
children  good  bye  pleasantly.  He  was  kind  to  all  his  clerks 
during  the  day,  and  gentle  in  all  his  transactions.  He  came 
back  to  dinner,  and  when  he  sat  down  he  said  grace — a 
^'blessing,"  aswesay — athistable.  I  like  that,  too.  A  man 
that  will  sit  down  to  his  table  before  his  children  and  eat,  with- 
out returning  thanks  to  the  Good  Provider  of  all  things,  that 
fellow  is  eleven-tenths  hog.  All  the  human  in  him  is  turned 
to  hog,  and  he  is  at  best  eleven-tenths  hog.  He  sat  down 
to  his  table  and  asked  a  blessing,  and  after  dinner  he  said, 
"Wife,  will  you  please  fix  up  this  half  of  a  broiled  chicken 
here;  make  some  nice  toast;  and  will  you  arrange  it  nicely 
on  a  waiter  for  Brother  Johnson,  living  down  here.  He  has 
been  paralyzed  two  years.  He  is  amembcr  of  our  Church 
and  I  have  not  been  to  see  him.  I  have  not  paid  any  atten- 
tion to  him ;  but  if  you  fix  up  these  things  nicely  on  a  waiter 
I  will  take  them  down  to  him."  The  waiter  was  fixed  up, 
and  he  took  it  down  to  the  sick  brother.    Then  he  said :  "If 


Perseverance  in  Well-Doing,  101 

you  have  a  Bible  I  will  read  to  you;"  and  he  read  ;  ^^The 
Lord  is  my  shepherd,  I  shall  not  want."  Then  he  knelt  down 
and  prayed  heaven's  blessing  on  the  poor  sick  fellow.  That 
night  he  held  family  prayer  in  his  own  home,  and  after  they 
had  gone  to  bed,  his  sons  Bill  and  Tom,  who  slept  in  the  next 
room  with  the  door  open  between,  began  talking.  Tom 
hunched  Bill  in  the  side  and  said  :  ^<Bill,  the  old  man's  going 
to  die;"  and  Bill  said:  *'How  do  youknow,  Tom?"  "Why," 
said  Tom,  "don't you  see  he  is  getting  pious?  He  will  die 
before  the  week's  out,  I  am  satisfied." 

CONCLUDING   REMARKS. 

Let  me  tell  you  there  is  many  a  Christian  in  this  town 
whose  children,  if  he  were  to  go  home  and   resolve  to  bo 
religious  for  one  day,  would  punch  one  another  in  the  short 
ribs  and  say,  "The  old  man  is  going  to  die." 
For  every  man  shall  bear  his  own  burden. 

I  never  see  that  passage  that  I  do  not  think  of  the  time 
that  a  certain  preacher  took  it  as  his  text.  He  said :  "Ev- 
ery tub  must  stand  on  its  own  bottom;"  and  an  Irishman 
in  the  congregation  said,  "Faith,  and  if  it  has  no  bottom?" 
"Then  it  is  no  tub,"  replied  the  preacher.  This  "no-tub" 
business  is  running  through  the  Church  largely. 

On  and  on  we  might  go  into  this  chapter,  but  we  have 
kept  you  over  an  hour.  And  now  let  us  go  away  and  think 
about  the  part  we  are  to  take  in  this  great  work.  "How 
am  I  to  prepare  myself,  and  what  shall  I  do,  in  order  that 
God  may  carry  on  and  bless  this  work."  And  now,  breth- 
ren. Christian  brethren  of  all  churches,  if  you  have  it  in 
your  hearts,  will  you  stand  squarely  on  your  feet  and  sa}^ : 
"  God  helping  me,  I  intend  to  live  an  unselfish  Christian. 
I  intend  to  try  to  be  a  good  man  and  to  help  others  to  be 
good."  Will  everybody  of  every  Church  that  feels  that  way 
stand  up  ?  [The  audience  rose  en  masse.']  Well,  thank  God 
for  such  a  house  as  that,  and  may  God  inspire  you  to  lead  a 
better  life.  And  may  the  blessings  of  Almighty  God  abide 
with  you  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 


^Ef^MON  V. 

7hE    j;;lHF(l?TIA]M'g    PRINCELY    J^^Jh/RACTEF!, 


Whosoever  is  born  of  God  doth  not  commit  sin;  for  his  seed  remaineth 
in  him ;  and  he  cannot  sin,  because  he  is  born  of  God.— 1  John,  3 ;  9. 

ou  say,  ^^  Strange  text  for  a  Thanksgiving  sermon." 
Well,  let's  wait  awhile  and  see  what  this  text  has  to  do 
with  this  occasion  and  with  the  future  of  our  lives.  I  might 
stop  here  and  say :  This  one  verse  of  scripture  gave  me 
more  pain  and  trouble  for  seven  or  eight  years  of  my  reli- 
gious life  than  perhaps  any  other  and  all  other  passages  of  the 
word  of  God.  This  text  to  me  once  was  a  two-edged  sword, 
and  I  never  approached  it  that  I  didn't  feel  its  sharp  blades 
cutting  asunder  and  dividing  the  veryjoint  and  marrow  and 
soul  and  spirit.  To  a  great  many,  the  reading  of  this  text 
is  nothing  more  than  the  applying  of  the  sound,  but  to  others 
and  to  me,  while  this  text  was  once  a  two-edged  sword,  now 
it  is  the  sweetest  bread  heaven  ever  gave  me.  I  announce 
at  this  point  that  I  don't  propose  to  preach  on  sanctification. 
I  don't  expect  to  touch  any  controversial  point,  any  contro- 
verted dogmas  and  views.  I  am  going  to  preach  on  old- 
fashioned  righteousness  and  the  life  of  the  really  converted 
man.  I  am  going  to  preach  on  every  day  religion.  I  shall 
not  get  up  as  high  as  sanctification,  though  I  believe  in  it 
with  all  my  heart;  and  I  believe  that  without  holiness  no 
man  shall  see  the  Lord  ;  and  if  you  ask  me  why  I  believe 
that,  I  tell  you,  just  because  the  Bible  says  so,  and  I  don't 
want  any  better  reason  for  anything  than  that  ''God  says." 

A  SCRIPTURAL  CLIMAX. 

Now,  this  text  is  the  climax  of  that  preceding,  and  we 
can  only  reach  this  great  climatical  point  as  we  may  come 
up  through  the  context.  And  may  God  help  me  to  preach 
this  text  to-day.  Iwould  rather  partially  fail  on  this  text  than 
succeed  on  many  other  texts  in  the  word  of  God.  A  cjear  ex- 
102 


The  Christianas  Princely  Character.  103 

egesis,  a  scriptural  understanding  of  this  text  to-day,  must 
benefit  every  man  here,  and  every  woman  here,  whether 
you  profess  to  be  Christians  or  not.  And  now  I  turn  to  the 
context,  beginning  with  the  first  verse,  and  I  read  this  : 

1.  Behold,  what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath  bestowed  upon  us,  that  we 
should  be  culled  the  sons  of  God  ;  therefore  the  world  knoweth  us  not  because 
it  knew  him  not. 

2.  Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear, — 
And  SO  on. 

The  first  announcement  of  the  text  is  the  princely  charac- 
ter of  the  Christian  man. 
Now  are  we  the  sons  of  God. 

What  a  blessed  realization  this  is  to  poor,  weak  human- 
ity. And  thank  God  !  The  sentiment  of  the  song  is  but  the 
truth  of  God's  word  when  we  sing: 

I'm  a  child  of  the  King, 
My  father  is  rich  in  houses  and  lands. 

Every  Christian  man  must  realize,  first,  I  am  a  son  of  the 
Lord  God  Almighty.  He  is  my  father.  I  am  his  child.  It 
is  worth  a  great  deal  to  a  man,  brother,  to  know  and  be  con- 
scious of  the  fact  that  he  belongs  to  a  noble  family.  It  is 
worth  a  great  deal  to  any  man  to  know  that  the  blood 
which  courses  through  his  veins  is  as  pure  and  as  good  as 
ever  flowed  through  human  veins.  It  is  worth  a  good  deal  to 
a  boy  to  know  that  his  father  was  a  princely  good  man.  It  is 
worth  a  great  deal  to  a  boy  to  look  back  with  the  conscious- 
ness, *' My  mother  was  one  of  the  purest  women  that  ever 
lived."  In  fact,  many  a  boy  has  drifted  to  the  very  verge  of 
destruction  in  his  waywardness  and  dissipation,  and  in  some 
thoughtful  moment  a  kind  friend  has  approached  him,  and 
laid  his  hand  on  his  shoulder,  and  said  :  ''My  friend  ;  young 
man  :  why  do  you  dissipate  and  why  will  you  go  so  far  in 
sin,  my  precious  young  man  :  your  mother  was  one  of  the 
most  princely  women  I  ever  knew.  Your  father  was  a  no- 
ble Christian  man.''  And  the  boy  has  walked  off  alone  and 
buried  his  face  in  his  hands  and  wept  like  a  child  as  he- 
said  :  ''  My  mother  was  one  of  the  purest  women  earth  ever 
knew.  My  father  was  a  noble,  princely  man.  And  to-day 
I  reform  my  life  and  serve  my  mother's  God  and  follow  my 
father's  Christ." 


104  The  Christianas  Princely  Character. 

THE  MISSISSIPPI  AGNOSTIC. 

I  once  knew  a  man  in  the  State  of  Mississippi ;  he  was  an 
elegant  man,  some  50  years  old,  an  elegant,  cultured  gentle- 
man. He  was  what  we  call  an  agnostic,  or  infidel.  After 
the  meeting  had  progressed  several  days  he  stood  up  one 
morning  in  the  vast  congregation  and  he  said  :  ^'My  fellow- 
citizens:  I  have  roamed  over  all  the  range  of  science  and 
literature,  I  have  never  found  rest  to  my  soul,  and  to-day  my 
mind  turns  back  to  the  purest,  sweetest  mother  a  boy  ever 
had.  My  mind  goes  back  to  my  precious  father  and  the 
family  altar,  and  the  sacred  conversations  at  home,  and  I 
stand  up  to-day  to  confess  my  sins  and  give  my  life  to  Christ.^' 

Ah  me  !  If  we  realize  who  we  are,  then  that  will  help  us  to 
be  what  we  ought  to  be. 

A  certain  one  of  the  crowned  heads  of  an  Eastern  country 
turned  his  son  over  to  a  tutor  to  train  and  educate.  He  was 
an  unruly  boy  some  twelve  years  of  age,  and  the  great  ques- 
tion of  the  tutor  was  :  "How  will  I  manage  this  boy  ?  I  can 
not  use  a  rod  on  the  King's  son  !  How  am  I  to  manage  him  ?" 
And,  finally,  he  adopted  this  plan  :  He  made  a  bow  of  rib- 
bon and  bound  it  on  the  lapel  of  the  boy's  coat.  The  boy 
turned  to  the  tutor  and  said:  "What  does  that  mean?"  The 
tutor  said,  "That  is  the  sign  of  your  royal  character.  That 
is  the  sign  that  you  are  the  son  of  a  king.  That  is  the  em- 
blem of  your  royal  character.  And  ever  after  that,  when  tho 
boy  misbehaved,  the  teacher  pointed  his  finger  to  the  badge, 
and  the  boy  subsided  in  a  moment  and  begged  pardon  for 
his  rudeness.  And  St.  Paul  says:  ^'I  carry  about  with  me 
the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,'^and  when  the  good 
spirit  of  Christ  drops  his  finger  on  the  mark,  I  stop  all  that 
is  evil  and  weep  my  life  away  for  having  grieved  God's 
love.  , 

THE  PRINCELY  CHARACTER  OF  CHRISTIAN  LIFE. 

When  Prince  Edward  of  England  visited  this  country,  the 
anxious  wish  was  expressed  that  while  here  he  would  behave 
himself  as  became  his  rank,  and  you  will  remember  the  gen- 
eral verdict  of  approval  of  his  conduct  while  in  America. 
Now,  1  may  not  and  cannot  announce  that  I  am  the  son  of 
Queen  Victoria  of  England  ;  but,  blessed  be  Grod  !  I  am  the 
son  of  Lord  God  Almighty,  and  I  am  the  heir  apparent  to 


The  Christianas  Priricely  Character.  105 

all  things.  And  when  I  walk  out  before  the  world  and  make 
the  declaration,  the  world  greets  me  and  replies :  "Now  we 
expect  something  of  you.  We  want  you  to  talk  like  a  prince, 
to  give  like  a  prince,  to  act  as  a  prince,  to  go  where  princes 
ought  to  go,  and  stay  away  from  where  princes  ought  not  to 
go.  We  want  you  to  behave  as  a  worthy  member  of  the 
family  to  which  you  belong,  and,  brethren,  the  highest  aim 
of  a  Christianas  heart  is  to  worthily  magnify  the  name  of  the 
family  to  which  he  belongs;  and  oh,  how  it  ought  to  be  the 
chief  desire  of  all  Christian  hearts  never  to  bring  reproach 
or  shame  upon  the  name  of  the  family  of  Grod.  One  of  the 
purest  of  men,  your  noble  Bishop,  who  died  in  your  midst, 
in  one  of  his  sermons,  said  this  :  "Shortly  after  I  joined  the 
church,  I  was  riding  along,  when  this  thought  impressed  me: 
"I  am  now  a  member  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  I  have  it 
in  my  power  to  bring  reproach  and  shame  upon  the  name 
and  cause  of  Christ.''  Said  he:  "When  that  thought  pos- 
sessed me,  it  overwhelmed  me.  Oh,  what  a  fearful  power 
delegated  to  mortal  man  !  Power  to  bring  reproach  and 
shame  upon  the  cause  of  Christ.  And,''  said  he,  "the  prayer 
that  I  lifted  up  from  my  heart  was,  "God  help  me  to  die 
rather  than  bring  a  stain  upon  the  family  of  God  and  the 
name  of  Christ." 

When  you  walk  out  before  the  world  with  this  announce- 
ment made  :  "I  am  the  child  of  the  King;  I  am  heir  appar- 
ent to  all  things,"  the  world  doffs  its  hat,  and  says  to  you  : 
"We  expect  you  to  live  like  one  ; "  and  I  am  very  glad  this 
world  will  not  compromise  Christian  people  down  to  the 
point  where  they  will  willingly  let  us  do  like  they  do.  I 
am  glad  that  no  wicked  man  ever  sees  a  professing  Chris- 
tian doing  anything  wrong  that  he  doesn't  point  the  finger 
of  scorn  at  him,  and  say:  "Just  look  at  that  professing 
Christian.  He  dishonors  his  God,  and  disgraces  himself." 
I  say  I  am  glad  the  world  thinks  more  of  Christ,  and  thinks 
more  of  Christianity,  than  to  let  us  Christian  people  misrep- 
resent the  gospel,  and  misrepresent  Christ,  without  throw- 
ing it  in  our  teeth,  and  telling  us  to  our  face:  "We  believe 
you  are  hypocrites."     I  am  glad  of  that. 

A   MERCIFUL  DIVINE   FATHER. 

Aud  then  after  a  profession  like  this  it  behooves  us  to  be 


106  The  Christian's  Princely  Character, 

grateful  for  the  redeeming  mercy  and  condescending  grace 
that  would  adopt  us  into  the  heavenly  family.  It  behooves 
us  then  to  lead  a  pure  life  and  stainless  character  before  God 
and  men. 

Now  are  we  the  sons  of  God — 

It  isn't  by  and  by.  It  isn't  when  I  am  bidding  earth  and 
friends  good-by,  and  pluming  myself  for  flight  to  glory  and 
God,  but  it  is  down  in  the  w^orld  of  temptation  and  trial. 
Every  morning,  noon  and  night,  I  may  fall  on  my  knees  and 
say,  ''My  Father,  which  art  in  Heaven."  I  can  explain 
my  existence  on  no  other  hypothesis  than  that  God  is  my 
father. 

I  was  getting  on  a  railroad  train  some  months  ago  in  my 
State,  and  a  gentleman  boarded  the  train  at  one  of  the  sta- 
tions, and  after  shaking  hands  and  talking  a  moment  I  ask- 
ed him  the  news.  ''Well,"  he  said,  ''nothing  special,  I  be- 
lieve, except  I  came  very  near  being  killed  last  night."  Said 
I,  "How  was  that?"  Said  he,  "The  agent  at  the  depot  in 
ourtown  was  lying  on  the  platform  of  the  depot,  drunk.  He 
had  been  drunk  several  days.  I  went  up  to  him  to  help  him 
into  the  depot,  and  when  I  did  so  he  jerked  out  his  pistol 
and  shot  at  me  twice,  and  came  very  near  hitting  me." 
"Well,"  said  I,  "do  you  mean  to  say  that  the  agent  at  the 
depot  in  your  town  had  been  drunk  for  several  days?" 
"Why,"  said  I,  "the  officers  of  this  road  are  very  strict  with 
their  employes.  How  is  it  this  man  maintains  his  position 
if  he  drinks  that  way?"  Said  the  gentleman:  "I  can't  tell 
you,  sir  J  only  this  man,  this  agent,  is  brother-in-law  to  the 
President  of  the  road."  Well,  when  he  said  that  I  saw  it  all 
in  a  moment,  and  then  I  said  to  myself:  "How  is  it  God  puts 
up  with  me  as  he  does?  How  is  it  God  has  borne  with  me 
as  he  does?"  And  I  found  the  answer  is  this  :  Not  because 
God  was  my  brother-in-law,  but  because  God  was  my  Father ; 
and  isn't  it  astonishing  how  God  will  bear  with  his  children? 

A  LESSON  FROM  THE  NURSE  GIRL. 

I  learned  a  great  lesson  in  my  relations  toward  God  in  a 
little  incident  that  happened  at  my  own  home.  We  had  in 
our  employ  a  colored  servant  nursing  for  us.  She  was 
rather  a  careless,  indifferent  servant.  I  was  sitting  in  the 
room  one  morning  just  after  breakfast,  and  this  girl  walked 


The  Christian's  Frincely  Character.  107 

in,  and  my  wife  said  ;  ''Sally,  you  can  go  to  your  home  this 
morning,  and  tell  your  mother  to  come  over  after  awhile 
and  I  will  pay  your  wages  to  her.  I  don't  want  you  any 
longer,  Sally.  You  may  go."  I  looked  up  from  my  book  and 
the  girl  stood  there,  full  face  toward  my  wife,  and  the  tears 
commenced  running  down  hercheek;anddirectly  she  turned 
to  my  wife  and  she  says,  ''Mrs.  Jones,  please  ma'am,  don't  turn 
me  off.  1  know  I'm  the  poorest  servant  you  ever  had,  but 
I  don't  want  to  be  turned  off.  Please  ma'am,  keep  me."  I 
commenced  to  beg  forthepoorgirl,  and  said,  "Wife,  bear  with 
her  a  little  while  longer."  And  then  I  thought  to  myself: 
"If  the  Lord  Jesus  were  to  come  down  this  morning  and  dis- 
charge me,  and  tell  me,  'I  don't  want  you  any  longer,'  I  would 
fall  down  at  his  feet  and  say,  ^Blessed  Savior,  don't  turn  me 
off.  I  know  I  am  the  poorest  servant  you  ever  had,  but,  blessed 
Christ,  keep  me  in  thy  life  employ.'" 

Oh,  blessed  Christ!     So  good  to  us!     So  merciful  to  us! 
Ah,  brother : 

When  all  thy  mercies,  oh,  my  Lord, 

My  rising  soul  surveys, 
Transported  by  the  view  I'm  lost 

In  wonder,  love  and  praise. 

Oh,  after  love  like  this. 

Let  rocks  and  hills  their  silence  break, 

And  all  harmonious  human  tongues 
Their  Savior's  praises  speak. 

Herein  is  love;  not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that  he  loved  us  and  gave  his 
Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our  sins. 

God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son  — 
that  every  child  of  Adam  might  be  adopted  into  the  heaven- 
ly family  and  become  an  heir  of  immortal  life.  Ah,  sister! 
look  up  to-day  and  see  your  father's  face  as  it  shines  in 
beauty  and  love  and  mercy,  and  say,  "Abba!  Father!  my  Lord 
and  my  God  !"  And  then,  realizing  your  princely  character, 
ever  after  this 

Let  your  life  and  lips  express 
The  holy  gospel  you  profess. 

PURITY  OF  CHARACTER. 

And  then  I  turn  to  the  second  feature  of  the  text,  and  I 
read  it  this  way  : 

2.  Now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be. 


108  The  Christian's  JPrincely  Character, 

but  we  know  that  when  he  shall  appear  we  shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall  sec  him 
as  he  is. 

3.  And  he  that  hath  this  hope  in  himpurifieth  himself,  even  as  Christ  is 
pure. 

The  Christian  character  is  pure.  There  is  a  great  deal 
said  about  life  purity  and  heart  purity  in  the  word  of  God. 
The  Christian  is  pure  in  his  life  and  pure  in  his  character. 
The  book  says : 

Blessed  is  the  man  unto  whom  the  Lord  imputeth  not  iniquity,  and  in  whose 
spirit  there  is  no  guile. 

A  guileless  man  !  A  guileless  woman  !  A  guileless  hus- 
band! A  guileless  wife  !  A  guileless  child  !  A  purity  like 
the  character  of  the  little  ermine,  that  beautiful,  fastidious 
little  animal,  with  its  hair  and  skin  as  white  as  the  driven 
snow;  and  the  only  way  to  capture  it,  with  its  cunning,  is 
to  mark  its  course  from  its  home,  and  then  sprinkle  mud  and 
dirt  along  its  pathway;  and  when  the  little  ermine  reaches 
in  its  pathway  to  where  the  muddy  water  and  dirt  are 
placed,  it  will  lie  down  and  subject  itself  to  capture  and 
death  before  it  will  smirch  or  soil  one  of  its  snow-white 
hairs.  And  so  the  true  Christian  has  reached  his  highest 
aims  when  he  reaches  a  point  where  he  will  lie  down  and 
subject  himself  to  torture  and  death  before  he  will  smirch 
his  character  as  a  Christian  man.  That's  the  Christian 
character — princely  in  nature  and  pure  in  character. 

THREE   DELIVERANCES. 

Brethren,  sooner  or  later  we  must  meet  this  point,  that 
God's  people  are  a  peculiar  people  and  God's  people  are  a 
pure  people.  Sooner  or  later  we  must  meet  this  in  our  con- 
victions, in  our  intelligent  thought,  and  I  say  to  you  all  to- 
day that  there  is  no  theological  book  in  any  theological 
library  in  the  country,  Protestant  in  its  character,  that 
puts  salvation  this  side  of  these  three  principles.  Salva- 
tion, says  all  Protestant  theology,  is  deliverance  from  the 
guilt  of  sin,  deliverance  from  the  love  of  sin,  and  deliver- 
ance from  the  dominion  of  sin.  And  I  declare  to  you  to-day 
that  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  is  either  inadequate  to 
reach  the  depths  of  human  depravity,  or  we  misunderstand 
that  gospel. 

I  am  ready  to  take  this  position  and  defy  earth  and  hell 
equally  upon  it.     Jesus  is  able  to  do  for  me  and  you  all  that 


The  Christian's  Frincely  Character.  109 

we  need  to  have  done  j  and  if  that  is  true,  then  God  knows  I 
need  to  be  delivered  from  sin,  its  dominion,  its  love  and  its 
guilt.  Now,  when  I  am  delivered  from  the  guilt  of  sin,  I 
have  got  to  that  point  in  the  Christian  life  reached  by  Bun- 
yan's  pilgrim,  when  he  walks  to  the  cross,  and  the  burden 
rolls  from  his  conscience  and  he  stands  upright  before  God. 
But,  brother,  that  is  not  sufficient.  The  mere  pardoning 
power  that  would  leave  me  as  I  was,  doesn't  amount  to 
much.  I  not  only  want  to  be  pardoned  for  my  past  sins, 
but  I  want  to  be  cleansed  from  all  unrighteousness. 

In  every  thouglit  renewed, 
And  full  of  life  divine, 

Perfect  and  right,  and  pure  and  good, 
Lord,  keep  me  ever  thine. 

If  I  had  but  one  prayer  between  this  and  eternity,  I  would 
pour  out  my  soul  in  this  one  petition  :  ''God,  give  me  a  pure 
heart  and  pure  life — the  purity  of  Christian  character." 

THE  LOATHING  OF  SIN. 

I  don't  consider  any  man  safe  here  or  hereafter  until  he  is 
delivered  from  the  love  of  those  things  that  are  wrong. 
There  is  no  attitude  towards  God  that  is  acceptable  to  him 
except  the  attitude  that  turns  with  loathing  away  from  sin. 
Let  me  illustrate  what  I  mean:  Here's  a  mother  sitting  quiet- 
ly within  her  room.  Her  only  child,  little  Willie,  just  four 
years  old,  the  pride  of  her  heart  and  the  joy  of  her  life,  sees 
mamma's  little  pearl-handled  pen-knife  lying  on  the  table. 
That  little  knife  is  the  present  of  a  friend,  and  mother  values 
it  highly.  Little  Willie,  unknown  to  mother,  picks  up 
the  little  knife  and  runs  out  of  the  room;  and  in  an  hour 
mother  wonders  where  he  is,  and  directly  the  nurse  comes 
in  hurriedly  and  says:  "Little  Willie  is  lying  all  bloody  in 
the  front  flower-yard;"  and  mother  rushes  out,  and  there  is 
little  AYillie  just  gasping  and  breathing  his  last.  He  stubbed 
his  little  foot  and  fell  and  the  blades  pierced  the  jugular  vein. 
The  mother  grabs  the -little  bloody  angel  in  her  arms  and 
runs  into  the  room,  and  just  as  she  lays  him  on  the  little  bed 
he  breathes  his  last;  and  the  mother  kisses  her  child  and  says : 
^'Sweet  Willie,  just  speak  one  more  time."  Next  day,  moth- 
er carries  little  Willie  to  the  grave  and  buries  him,  and  comes 
back  to  her  home  with  broken  heart,  and  as  she  sits  down 
and  turns  back  the  dark  veil,  the  nurse  comes  out  of  the  front 


110  The  Christian's  Princely  Character, 

yard  and  saj's  :  ^^Madam,  here's  the  little  knife.  Here's  your 
little  i^earl-hundled  knife/'  The  mother  looks  at  the  knife 
and  its  blade  all  covered  with  the  blood  of  her  sweet  child, 
and  she  shrinks  back  in  horror  and  says,  ''Take  that  knife 
out  of  my  presence.  I  never  want  to  see  it  again.  It  has 
the  blood  of  m}^  precious  child  upon  it."  And  when  a  Christ- 
ian man  or  woman,  under  the  light  of  God's  Holy  Spirit,  can 
see  that  every  sin  in  all  the  moral  universe  of  God  has  been 
covered  with  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God,  then  he  shrinks 
back  in  horror  and  says  :  *'0h  !  take  it  out  of  my  presence. 
It  is  covered  with  the  precious  blood  of  my  bleeding  Sav- 
ior." Oh,  brother,  you  will  never  know  what  piety  is  until 
you  see  all  impurity  bathed  in  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God. 
Oh,  let  us  hate  sin  and  abhor  it,  and  turn  away  from  it,  and 
despise  it  utterly. 

IMPERVIOUSNESS    TO    SIN. 

And  now  for  a  few  moments: 

He  that  is  born  of  God  doth  not  commit  sin,  for  his  seed  remaineth  in 
him,  and  he  can  not  sin  because  he  is  born  of  God. 

We  have  had,  firstly,  the  princely  character  of  the  Chris- 
tian, and,  secondly,  his  purity  of  character,  and  now  we 
come  to  the  climax  of  the  text,  the  imperviousness  of  the 
Christian  character  to  sin. 

Now,  if  I  were  to  say  right  here  that  an  honest  man  can- 
not steal,  everybody  here  would  say,  "That  is  true."  If 
I  were  to  say  a  sober  man  cannot  get  drunk,  they  would 
say,  "That's  a  fact."  If  I  were  to  say  a  chaste  man  cannot 
be  vulgar,  they  would  say,  "That  is  true."  Well,  now, 
brother,  if  a  truthful  man  as  a  truthful  man  cannot  tell  a 
lie,  and  an  honest  man  as  an  honest  man  cannot  steal,  and  a 
sober  man  as  a  sober  man  cannot  get  drunk,  if  logic  is 
worth  anything  and  common  sense  and  religion  will  mix  up 
together  at  all,  then  I  say,  is  there  anything  unreasonable 
in  the  ]3roposition  that: 

He  that  is  born  of  God  doth  not  commit  sin, — 

Don't  you  see? 
He  that  is  born  of  God  doth  not  commit  sin,  because  his  seed  remaineth 
in  him. 

Now,  there's  the  gist  of  the  whole  matter.     There'^s  the 
pivotal  point  in  the  whole  text: 
Because  his  seed  remaineth  in  him. 


The  Christian's  Princely  Character,  111 

It  is  a  moral  ^^canH;"  not  a  physical  "canH."  JS'ow,  sup- 
pose some  man  had  said  to  me  this  morning  when  I  got  up, 
^'Brother  Tudor  came  here  last  night  and  stole  your  watch 
and  clothes,  and  has  run  away."  I  would  look  the  man  in 
the  face  and  say:  ''Brother  Tudor  can  not  steal  my  watch 
and  clothes."  You  don't  mean  that  he  could  not  have 
walked  out  on  the  street  and  gone  into  my  room  and  carried 
off  these  things  as  a  physical  act,  but  you  say,  "It  is 
against  his  principles,  and  against  his  interests,  and  against 
his  conviction,  and  against  his  desires  and  purposes  and 
everything,  and  I  just  know  he  didn't  do  it."  There's  a 
man  with  the  love  and  respect  of  everybody  in  St.  Louis, 
and  with  no  interest  at  all  for  stealing  anything  from  me, 
and  I  just  know  he  couldn't  do  it;  and  if  every  man  in  the 
City  of  St.  Louis  was  like  him,  we  could  quit  shutting  our 
front  doors  at  night  and  throw  all  our  keys  away,  and  just 
close  up  our  Sheriff's  institution  and  every  jail  and  cala- 
boose in  this  city.  Ain't  that  so  ?  It  is  like  a  train  when 
you  see  it  going  thundering  along  the  track  towards  Kan- 
sas City — you  know  it  isn't  going  to  St.  Louis,  because  all 
its  momentum  is  the  other  way.  And  when  a  man's  momen- 
tum and  desires  and  purposes  and  intentions  are  set  heaven- 
ward, with  all  the  power  that  God  can  give  him,  then  he 
can't  go  to  hell. 

TOO  FOND  OF  REAL  ESTATE. 

Now  you  know  that  line  you  sing — 

Surely  the  Captain  may  depend  on  me. 

How  few  of  us  the  Lord  can  depend  on,  and  how  few  can 
he  trust  with  money  !  You  hear  men  confessing  every  sin 
except  that  of  avarice.  I  never  heard  of  anything  of  that 
sort  in  the  church,  never.  There  are  men  in  this  town, 
and  I  expect  some  men  in  this  house,  that,  if  God 
were  to  check  on  you  to-day  for  $100  or  $1,000  for 
some  good  cause,  you  would  let  that  check  go  to  protest, 
and  swear  you  didn't  have  the  money.  And  yet  if  you  could 
go  down  here  on  a  certain  corner  and  buy  a  piece  of  prop- 
erty at  thirty-three  percent,  discount,  you  would  give  a  cash 
check  for  every  dollar  of  it.  And  God  keeps  books,  and 
he'll  put  your  sort  in  hell  by-and-bv  for  lying,  if  you  never 
do  anything  else  wrong. 


112  The  Christianas  Princely  Character. 

A  beautiful  tract  of  river  land  is  so  covered  with  timber  that 
it  would  be  impossible  to  raise  a  crop  in  their  shade  3  and 
where  God^s  grace  and  the  desire  to  live  a  right  life  fill  a 
man's  heart,  there  can  be  no  room  for  the  devil. 

The  idea  of  the  divine  Spirit  taking  possession  of  our  hearts 
means  about  this  :  My  time  and  life  and  hands  and  feet  and 
tongue  all  belong  to  God.  I  never  intend  to  work  for  the 
devil.  I  have  no  time.  Here's  a  fellow  gone  over  to  one  of 
these  ladies  and  says  : 

"  Can  you  go  to  the  theater  with  me  to-night?" 

^'No." 

^^ Why  not?" 

"Well,  this  is  my  night  for  visiting  the  sick." 

"  Will  you  go  to-morrow  night  ?" 

"lS"o." 

"Why?" 

"  Because  to-morrow  night  is  our  Bible  lesson  night,  when 
myself  and  children  study  the  lesson  for  Sunday." 

"How  about  the  night  after  that?" 

"I  can't  go  that  night  either.  That's  prayer-meeting  night, 
and  I  never  miss  prayer-meeting." 

"  Will  you  go  the  next  night?" 

"That's  the  night  we  meet  at  the  church  parlor  to  study 
the  Sunday-school  lesson." 

"  Well,  now,  when  will  you  go  ?" 

*^  I  don't  know  any  night  I  can  give  you  in  the  next  thou- 
sand years.  I  might  fix  up  one  a  thousand  years  from  now, 
but  I  haven't  any  night  in  a  thousand  years  that  I  can  give 
for  that." 

Don't  you  see  ?  That  lady  has  got  where  she's  worth  some- 
thing to  God  and  worth  nothing  to  the  devil.  She  gives  all 
her  time  to  God,  and  that  leaves  no  time  or  room  for  the 
devil. 

Oh  Lord,  give  us  that  sort  of  religion  all  over  this  coun- 
try. 


^EI^MON  VI. 

•\Yh/iT    it    Ig    TO    BE    JH    jil^HRlgT, 


There  is  therefore  now  no  condemnation  to  them  which  are  in  Christ 
Jesus. — KoMANS  8 ;  1. 

*E  invite  your  attention  to  three  words  in  the  above  3 
these  are  the  three  : 

In  Christ  Jesus 
— who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  spirit. 

In  the  verses  of  the  preceding  chapter  St.  Paul  goes  into  a 
psychological  analysis  of  the  law  of  God  and  its  bearings 
upon  the  conscience  and  conduct.  We  will  read  a  few  of 
these  verses. 

[Here  Mr.  Jones  read  from  the  seventh  chapter  of  Eomans, 
verses  fourteen  to  twenty-four.] 

The  law,  said  Blackstone,  is  a  rule  of  action  prescribed  by 
the  supreme  power  of  the  state,  commanding  what  is  right 
and  prohibiting  what  is  wrong.  The  law  is  a  rule;  the  law 
is  a  line;  the  law  is  a  straight-edge.  And  the  law  of  God 
may  map  out,  and  does  map  out,  a  rule  of  action,  but  has 
nothing  in  itself  to  give  mc  an  inspiration  that  would  incline 
me  to  walk  upon  it  and  to  walk  straightly  by  it.  The  law  of 
God  in  this  sense  is  a  mirror  and  simply  a  mirror.  A  mir- 
ror placed  before  my  form  would  reveal  any  defects  of  my 
face,  any  mud  or  smut,  and  I  might  see  plainly  the  defects, 
and  I  might  plainly  see  the  mud  and  smut,  butif  I  wanted  to 
wash  it  off  I  could  not  wash  it  off  with  a  mirror.  The  mirror 
would  simply  show  me  it  is  there  and  has  no  power  to  remove 
it.  The  law  of  God  reveals  my  defects.  It  shows  me  how 
crooked  I  am,  without  any  power  in  the  world  to  straighten 
me.  And  the  man  who  sees  right,  the  man  who  admits  that 
the  rule  is  right  and  straight,  and  at  the  same  time  has  no 
inspiration,  no  power  within  him,  no  help  within  to  keep  him 
on  this  straight  line,  realizes  just  what  Paul  did  when  he  said  : 
Oh,  wretched  man  that  I  am  !  Who  will  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this 
death? 

113 


114  What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ. 

THE  DEAD  BODY  OF  SIN. 

Who  will  take  and  loose  from  me  this  dead  body  that  is 
chained  to  me,  and  carry  it  away  from  me?  The  mem- 
ories of  my  imperfections,  my  frailties,  my  shortcomings, 
are  like  a  body  of  death  chained  to  me.  They  are  a  weight 
of  guilt.  And  the  offensive  odors  of  past  sins  are  indeed  like 
a  dead  body  chained  to  a  man.  Now  our  Savior  lifts  the 
curtain.  The  book  lifts  the  curtain.  Further  along  it  tells 
us  that — 

Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  for  righteousness  to  every  one  that  believeth. 

It  tells  us  again  that,  with  faith  unfeigned  and  a  pure  coa 
science,  we  may  know  what  it  is  to  be — 
In  Christ  Jesus  a  new  creature. 

Now,  understand,  that  depravity  I  never  discuss  atah^ 
as  to  whether  it  is  partial  or  total ;  whether  it  is  simply  in  - 
nate  or  developed.  We  say  nothing  about  it.  But  I  meei 
every  man  on  the  face  of  this  earth  and  look  him  in  the 
cjQ  and  tell  him:  "Naturally,  innately,  you  have  meanness 
enough  in  you  to  damn  you,  and  I  don't  know  what  a  fellow 
wants  with  any  more  than  that.''  He  is  greedier  than  I 
have  ever  been  if  he  wants  any  more  than  that.  Whether  it 
is  partial  or  total,  I  have  no  capacity,  maybe,  and,  I  am  sat- 
isfied, no  time  or  inclination,  to  discuss.  Now,  before  us  we 
have  a  straight  line,  and  we  all  admit  wc  cannot  walk  on  it, 
and  heaven  is  just  at  the  other  end  of  that  straight  line  for 
every  one  of  us.  Now,  some  people  propose  to  dodge  and 
shirk  and  beat  round  and  come  out  all  right.  Well  now,  if 
you  can  tell  me  how  a  man  can  take  a  short  cut  on  a  straight 
road,  then  I'll  be  able  to  tell  something  about  how  a  fellow 
can  whip  round,  and  jerk  round,  and  come  out  even  at  the 
end.  I  could  sortof  understand  itthen.  But  straight  is  the 
gate,  and  straight  is  the  line,  and  straight  is  the  way,  and 
there  are  no  right  cuts  on  a  straight  road  that  I  know  any- 
thing about. 

A   NOTABLE    CONCLUSION. 

And  St.  Paul  reacbcs  the  conclusion  that  I  wish  we  would 
all  reach  to-night.  This  seventh  chapter  of  Eomans  is  full  of 
mystery,  and  I  think  with  the  preacher  who  said  that  if  we 
had  not  gotten  out  of  the  seventh  chapter  of  Eomans  into 
the  eighth,  the  devil  would  get  us  all.     I  think  that  he  was 


What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ.  115 

about  right.     And  now  we  come  to  the  first  verse  of  the 
eighth  chapter: 

There  is  therefore  now  no  condemnation  to  them  which  are  in  Christ  Jesus. 
^'In  Christ  Jesus."     Being  ^'in  Christ  Jesus"  and  having 
"Christ  in  you"  are  interchangeable  terms  in  Scripture. 

Having  Christ  in  you,  the  hope  of  glory, 
is  one  way  to  put  it.     Another  is : 

If  any  man  be  in  Christ  Jesus  he  is  a  new  creature. 
Our  Savior  amplified  the  thought  when  he  said  : 

Behold  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock.    If  you  will  open  unto  me  I  will 
come  in  and  sup  with  you. 

Oh,  blessed  thought!  Christ  my  guest!  I  am  ashamed 
of  what  I  have  to  ofi'cr  him.  I  am  ashamed  of  the  table  I 
set  him  down  to.  I  am  ashamed  of  everything  in  the  home  I 
invite  him  into.  But  he  sits  there,  and  he  is  my  guest  but  a 
moment  until  he  stands  up  and  he  says:  "Now  you  be  my 
guest  and  I  will  be  host."  Oh,  what  a  privilege,  to  sit  at 
the  table  with  Christ  as  host,  and  have  him  feed  us  on  heav- 
en's bread  and  angels'  food. 
In  Christ  Jesus. 

If  you  be  in  Christ  Jesus  you  are  a  new  creature,  if  he 
form  in  you  the  hope  of  glory.  I  want  to  say  that  it  is  pe- 
culiarly true  of  Christianity  that  we  need  a  Christ.  Not  a 
Christ  of  history ;  not  a  Christ  of  eighteen  hundred  3^ears 
ago;  not  a  Christ  on  Calvaiy;  but  we  need  a  present-abid- 
ing Christ.  You  can  run  Mormonism  with  Joe  Smith  and 
Brigham  Young  into  their  graves;  it  goes  right  on.  You  can 
run  Confucianism  without  Confucius.  But  you  can't  run 
Christianity  without  Christ.  This  Christianity  is  the  per- 
sonal living  embodiment  of  Christ.  And  the  question  comes 
up  there,  and  it  is  the  question  of  this  nineteenth  century: 
"Who  is  Christ?  What  is  Christ?  Do  you  know  there  have 
been  more  lives  of  Christ  written  since  I  was  born  than 
were  ever  written  before  I  was  born.  In  the  last  thirty^ 
eight  years  there  have  been  written  more  lives  of  Chrisi 
than  in  all  the  past  ages  since  he  walked  among  men.  Isn't 
that  a  singular  fact?  Isn't  it  carrying  out  the  thought  ex- 
pressed by  him : 

And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me, 

8 


116  What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ. 

WHO  IS  CHRIST  ? 

Who  is  Christ?  what  is  Christ?  this  world  has  always 
been  eager  to  know  and  eager  to  see.  Thousands  of  years 
ago,  when  the  people  of  this  old  world  groped  in  darkness 
and  mingled  as  orphans  at  one  tomb,  they  grew  restless  and 
turned  their  eyes  up  to  the  darkened  heavens  and  benttheir 
ears  upward,  and  almost  in  the  language  of  despair  they  said, 
"Oh,  tell  us  who  thou  art,  thou  great  Infinite  One.  Are  we 
here  simply  by  accident,  or  is  there  a  great  first  cause?  Tell 
us  who  thou  art."  And  as  they  eagerly  listened,  a  voice  is- 
sued out  from  the  darkness — a  still,  small  voice — and  an- 
swered back,  ''I  am."  They  caught  it  up  and  repeated  it — 
"I  am."  Thej^  said,  "Here  is  some  light;  but  oh,  how  dark 
it  is." 

And  the  world  groped  on  in  darkness  for  centuries,  and  by- 
and-by,  restless  and  nervous  and  impatient,  they  turned 
their  faces  back  up  to  heaven,  and  bent  their  ears,  and  cried 
again  :  "Oh  tell  us  who  thou  art,  what  thou  art  to  us  !"  And 
the  voice  answered  back  :  "I  am  what  I  am.  I  am  that  I  am." 
And  they  caught  it  up  and  said  :  "I  am  that  I  am.  Kerens 
a  little  more  light.  We  are  thankful  for  any  light.  Oh,  how 
dark  it  is." 

And  by-and-b}^  the  world  grew  restless  and  rushed  right 
up  on  one  who  was  speaking,  and  they  said:  "Be  quiet.  Let 
us  see  what  he  says."  And  he  answered  and  said  :  "I  am" — 
and  they  caught  it  up,  "I  am."  We  have  heard  that  before. 
Listen,  we  will  get  a  light  now.  "I  am."  Everything  and 
everybody  be  quiet.  Let  us  hear  him  speak;  and  he  said  : 
"I  am  the  way."  "Oh,  3'e  lost  men  that  have  been  wander- 
ing in  the  wilderness  for  hundreds  of  years,  hear  him  speak  ! 
Here's  a  thoroughfare,  a  highway,  a  road,  we  may  walk  in. 
Oh,  ye  lost  men  of  earth  !  Come  into  this  way  and  rejoice 
that  you  are  in  a  highway." 

Listen  !  He  is  going  to  speak  again  :  "I  am  the  truth." 
Oh,  this  old  world  has  been  wrapped  in  error  thousands  of 
years,  and  now  we  are  seeing  the  truth.  We  have  not  seen 
the  truth  for  thousands  of  years.  And  now  let  us  listen; 
we  have  the  truth  from  him  who  is  the  very  embodiment  of 
truth.    "I  am  the  truth." 

Listen!  He  speaks  again!  "I  am  the  light."  You  old 
world,  that  has  groped  in  darkness,  wake  up  under  this  gold- 


What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ,  117 

en  light  and  let  them  see  just  as  God  would  have  them  see! 

FOR  HUNGRY  SOULS. 

Listen  !  He  speaks  again  :  '-I  am  the  bread."  Oh,  listen, 
ye  hungry  souls  !  Here's  bread  enough  and  to  spare.  Come 
and  eat  and  be  satisfied. 

Listen!  He  is  speaking  again:  ^' I  am  the  water."  Oh,  ye 
thirsty  men  that  have  been  famishing  upon  the  desert  of  life, 
listen!  Here's  the  living  fountain,  and  ye  may  drink  and 
never  be  thirsty  any  more. 

Listen  !  He  speaks  again  :  ''I  am  the  door."  And  ''door" 
means  house  and  home  and  hospitality  and  comfort.  Oh,  ye 
poor,  wandering,  houseless  men,  listen!  Here  is  home  for  all 
the  children  of  men. 

In  Christ  Jesus. 

Do  you  recollect  the  occasion  where  the  apostles  went  to 
the  Master  and  said:  "Master,  there  is  a  great  multitude  who 
have  been  following  us  now  for  days,  and  they  are  famished 
for  hunger  !  Master,  bid  them  go  away  and  get  something 
to  eat."  Jesus  looked  at  his  disciples — you  recollect — and 
he  said  a  thing  world-wide  in  its  meaning,  and  that  has  given 
me  comfort  in  the  darkest  hours  of  my  religious  life — do  you 
recollect  what  Jesus  said?  *' They  need  not  depart.  They 
needn't  go  away  from  me  for  anything.  You  get  out  your  little 
loaves  and  fishes  and  I  will  multiply  them  until  this  multi- 
tude shall  be  fed  and  until  they  shall  realize  that  around 
Christ  centers  all,  and  that  he  is  all  and  in  all."  Blessed  be 
God  !  A  man  need  not  go  away  from  Christ  to  get  anything 
that  is  necessary  for  him  in  time,  or  necessary  for  him  in 
eternity. 

A    SHORT    BIOGRAPHY. 
In  Christ  Jesus. 

Now,  with  such  a  one  before  you,  T  want  to  say  the  ques- 
tion comes  up,  Who  is  Christ?  at  last.  What  is  Christ? 
That  is  the  question.  Our  finest  authors  have  written,  and 
I  have  been  charmed  with  Beattie,  and  with  Farrar,  and 
with  Young,  and  with  our  best  authors  on  this  subject;  but, 
brother,  do  you  know  one  of  the  disciples  wrote  the  history 
of  Christ  in  a  single  line — I  believe  in  five  words: 
He  went  about  doing  good. 


118  What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ. 

There's  a  life  of  the  blessed  Christ  in  a  single  line  of  five 
monosyllable  utterances: 
In  Christ  Jesus. 

Well  now,  when  we  bring  this  problem  down  to  where  we 
can  get  hold  of  it,  we  see  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  living, 
personal  embodiment  of  wisdom,  and  justice  and  love,  and 
mercy  and  truth,  and  of  all  the  characteristics  that  make 
God  lovely.  That  is  it.  And  if  my  salvation  or  your  sal- 
vation to-night  depended  upon  our  picking  a  single  flaw  in 
the  life  of  Christ,  or  picking  out  a  single  utterance  of  his 
that  was  below  the  dignity  of  God,  we  would  essentially 
and  inevitably  be  damned  forever;  for,  after  all,  infidelity 
has  said  it  cannot  pick  a  flaw  in  his  life,  or  find  an  utterance 
that  was  below  the  dignity  of  a  God. 

What  is  Christ?  The  living,  personal  embodiment  of 
wisdom,  and  justice  and  truth,  and  love  and  mercy,  and  for- 
giveness, and  all  those  attributes  that  make  the  character  of 
God  lovely.     That's  it. 

Well,  now,  how  may  a  man  determine  whether  he  has 
Christ  or  not?  If  he  be  in  Christ  Jesus,  then  he  is  a  wise 
man  and  a  just  man  and  a  true  man  and  forgiving  man,  and  a 
lovely  character.     Don't  you  see?     St.  Paul  said: 

I  am  crucified  with  Christ;  yet,  nevertheless,  I  live.  Yet  not  I,  but  Christ, 
liveth  in  me. 

That  is,  ^'Christ  propels  these  hands  and  feet  and  tongue 
just  as  he  did  his  own  hands  and  feet  and  tongue." 

THE  SECRET  OF  CHRISTIAN  HAPPINESS. 
I  die  daily. 

There's  the  secret  of  a  Christian's  happy  life.  And  St. 
Paul  meant  by  that  about  this  :  "The  first  thing  I  do  in  the 
morning  when  I  open  my  eyes  is  to  fall  down  on  my  knees 
and  die  to  this  world;  die  to  its  pleasures,  its  profits,  its 
fruits,  its  smiles,  its  condemnations;  die  to  its  threats;  die 
to  its  money;  die  to  all  it  can  do."  And  when  Paul  got  up 
from  his  knees  in  the  morning  he  was  as  dead  to  this  world 
as  he  was  afterwards  when  his  head  was  severed  from  his 
body  and  his  body  buried  out  of  the  sight  of  men.  And  a  man 
never  truly  lives  until  he  dies  in  this  sense,  and  when  a  man 
dies  in  this  sense  he  is  the  livest  man  that  ever  walked  on 
the  face  of  the  earth. 


What  it  is  to  he  In  Christ.  119 

A  Christian  must  essentially  be  a  wise  man.  What  is  wis- 
dom ?  It  is  the  skillful  application  of  knowledge.  It  is 
using  what  I  have  at  command  to  the  best  end  in  the  best 
way.  That's  it.  Wisdom!  Wisdom!  There  are  a  great 
many  knowing  men  in  this  world,  but  very  few  wise  men. 
We  have  knowledge  enough  to  run  about  four  such  worlds  as 
this,  but  havn't  wisdom  enough  to  keep  out  of  jail  a  large 
class  of  society ;  and  a  larger  other  class,  perhaps,  ought  to 
be  there. 

ST.    LOUIS'    FOLLY. 

Why,  St.  Louis  hasn't  wisdom  enough  to  run  her  town, 
and  to  save  her  soul  she  can't  see  how  she  could  run  her 
town  if  she  were  to  shut  up  her  saloons!  "Why,  it  would 
increase  our  taxes,  and  it  would  bankrupt  our  town,  and  it 
would  go  to  the  dogs!"  I  want  to  see  one  town  that  died 
because  it  was  a  prohibitionist  town.  I  want  to  visit  its 
funeral,  or  rather  I  want  to  funeralize  her.  I  have  got  a 
text  I  could  make  things  bounce  on  if  I  could  just  find  a 
town  like  that,  that  died  because  she  "went  dry."  Thank 
God,  Atlanta,  with  her  fifty-eight  thousand  or  sixty  thousand 
inhabitants,  yesterday  voted  this  devil's  stuff  out  of  her 
midst,  and  I  want  to  say  to  you  that  this  is  but  a  quiet 
speaking  out  to  every  city  in  America.  It  is  no  longer  a 
question  of  how  many  bushels  of  grain  are  stilled  up;  it  is 
not  a  question  of  how  many  dollars  are  sunk  yearly  in  the 
trade  ;  it  is  not  a  question  of  statistics.  It  is  a  question  of 
blood  and  death  and  hell!  We  are  getting  tired.  These 
wives  are  getting  tired  seeing  their  husbands  staggering 
into  drunkards'  graves.  These  mothers  are  tired  of  seeing 
their  precious  boys  debauched  and  damned  and  ruined  for- 
ever. It  is  a  question  of  blood  and  death  and  hell.  It  is 
not  a  question  of  how  many  dollars  and  cents  or  how  much 
grain  is  stilled  up.  Recollect  that.  We  cannot  run  our 
town  unless  we  have  wisdom  to  do  it.  I  expect  a  great 
many  professing  Christians  in  this  town  will  be  astonished 
when  they  get  to  heaven  to  find  how  God  Almighty  can  run 
the  Celestial  City  without  a  few  saloons  to  help  keep  up  the 
taxes. 

A   LITTLE    MORE   WISDOM. 

Wisdom — sense  enough  and  the  right  use  of  sense  enough 
to  do  the  best  thing  and  do  it  in  the  best  way.    Well,  now, 


120  What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ. 

what  is  the  wisdom  of  Christianity  ?  I  tell  you  it  is  the  use 
of  the  best  means  to  the  best  ends.  And  I  tell  you  how  I 
look  at  it.  I  have  been  listening  ever  since  I  was  con- 
verted, and  I  want  to  say  right  here  upon  this  point  that  I 
never  heard  a  man  tell  his  experience  and  state  in  his  expe- 
rience some  Christian  duty  that  helped  him  to  be  religious 
that  I  didnH  adopt  that  mj^self.  I  just  think,  ''Well,  old  fel- 
low, if  that  helped  you,  I  think  it  will  help  me.  I  have 
started  in  in  cold-blooded  earnest  to  get  to  the  good  world, 
and  I'll  adopt  anything  that  will  helpm.e  along.  That's  my 
programme.''  When  I  heard  an  old  Christian  say:  ''Family 
prayer  was  a  great  blessing,"  thinks  I  to  myself,  "God  help- 
ing me,  ril  adopt  that."  I  want  every  thing  that  will  help 
me  to  get  on,  and  I  want  to  adopt  every  plank  in  the  plat- 
form that  ever  helped  a  man  to  be  good,  and  ever  helped  a 
man  to  overcome  sin  and  overcome  wickedness.  These 
little,  slow  Christians  in  this  land,  they  have  just  got  two 
planks  in  their  religious  platform.  Saying  a  little  prayer 
and  reading  a  little  Bible  is  just  as  far  as  they  ever  get. 
That  is  all  there  is  in  their  religion — saying  a  prayer  every 
night  before  they  go  to  bed  and  reading  the  Bible  a  little 
occasionally;  and  that's  about  as  far  as  they  ever  get.  I 
tell  you  they  sometimes  remind  me  of  these  little  two-wheel 
engines  they  made  when  they  first  started  to  make  engines. 
They  just  put  two  wheels  under  them  and  they  made 
schedule  time,  three  miles  an  hour,  right  along. 

A  NEW  SCHEDULE  WANTED. 

But  people  got  tired  of  that  sort  of  schedule.  Wisdom 
says,  "  That  won't  do  !"  Three  miles  an  hour  for  a  locomo- 
tive engine  !"  Well,  now  what  do  they  do  ?  They  just  put 
jackscrews  under  that  engine  and  prized  it  up,  and  put  six 
more  wheels  beneath  her.  That's  all ;  and  now  you  can  go 
fifty  or  sixty  or  even  seventy-nine  miles  an  hour.  What  do 
you  say  to  that  ?  That  is  a  good  schedule.  And  now,  broth- 
er, sister,  God  help  you  to  be  willing,  anxious  for  God  Al- 
mighty to  prize  you  up  and  put  more  wheels  under  you. 
These  little  two-wheeled  fellows,  they  start  out  toward  the 
good  world,  and  have  been  running  the  Christian  race  for 
forty  years,  and  haven't  gotten  ten  miles  on  their  journey. 
The  devil  can  take  one  of  these  little  two-wheeled  fellows  and 


What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ,  121 

give  him  ten  miles  the  start,  and  then  catch  him  before 
breakfast  every  time.     That's  the  plain  truth  about  it. 

Oh,  sir,  wisdom  says  to  me :  ''  Be  prized  up  closer  to  God, 
and  let  every  Christian  duty  be  a  wheel  put  in,  and  then  you 
will  roll  on  to  God  successfully,  and  you  can  out-run  the  devil 
in  any  race  he  wants  to  make  with  you.  You  move  faster  and 
you  move  more  grandly. 

Wisdom.  Do  the  right  thing  and  do  it  in  the  right  way. 
Adopt  every  plank  in  your  religious  platform  that  ever 
helj^ed  a  man  to  be  good,  and  tear  out  every  one  that  ever 
helped  a  man  to  be  bad.  Wisdom!  Justice?  Ah,  justice!  I 
have  heard  people  say,  ^'  Christ  was  a  just  man.''  I  have 
heard  people  say, '' You  had  better  be  just  than  generous." 
Did  you  know  that  it  is  ten  times  as  hard  to  be  just  as  to  be 
generous  ?  Most  any  man  can  pull  out  a  $10  bill  and  give  it 
to  a  widow.  That  is  generosity.  But  it  takes  a  man — a  true 
man — that  will  sit  down  and  draw  the  line  and  give  to  God 
his  dues,  to  his  neighbors  their  dues,  to  his  family  their  dues, 
and  to  the  world  its  dues.  It  is  very  hard  to  find  a  generous 
man  in  this  world,  and  it  is  ten  thousand  times  harder  to  be 
just  than  generous.  I  like  a  man  to  be  just  to  his  family, 
just  to  his  God,  just  to  humanity.  A  man  that  will  be  just 
in  his  relative  duties  to  humanity  and  to  himself.  A  just 
man  weighs  everything  in  the  balance.  Ah,  me  !  Burns  told 
the  truth  when  he  said  : 

"  Ouch  !  Mankind  are  but  unco'  weak 
And  little  to  be  trusted  ; 
When  self  the  wavering  balance  shakes, 
It's  rarely  right  adjusted." 

NUMEROUS  CONVERTS. 

There  are  a  great  many  preachers  in  this  world — I  may 
be  one  of  them — I  am  no  better  than  any  of  them — that  have 
a  great  many  converts  every  3''ear,  and  they  say,  ''I've  had 
two  hundred  conversions."  Well,  converted  from  what,  and 
converted  to  what?  That's  the  question  ?  And  when  youring 
changes  on  the  preacher  right  there,  and  say:  ''Brother,  you 
say  you've  got  two  hundred  converts  ?"  "Yes."  "Well,  what 
have  they  been  converted  from,  and  what  have  they  been  con- 
verted to?"  Now,  if  you  can  find  me  a  man  that  has  been  con- 
verted from  the  works  of  the  flesh,  which  are  manifest — idol- 


122  What  it  is  to  he  In  Christ. 

atry,  witchcraft,  hatred,  variance,  malice,  riot,  strife,  sedit- 
ion, heresy,  licentiousness,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing — he  is 
converted  over  to  love  and  mercy  and  justice  and  wis- 
dom, and  all  these  other  things  that  God  approves  of;  then, 
I  say,  you  get  a  fellow  that  is  converted  on  the  Bible  plat- 
form, and  I  would  not  give  a  flip  of  my  fingerfor  a  man  con- 
verted on  any  other  platform.  Two  hundred  converts  !  Afel- 
low  out  in  the  country  gets  up  a  big  meeting,  and  he  has  got 
two  hundred  converts.  Does  he  mean  he  has  got  two  hun- 
dred more  like  those  he  has  got  before — those  quarter  of  a 
dollar  and  ten  cents  a  year  admission  fellows,  and  a  demi- 
john sitting  around  in  every  house  ?  Does  he  mean  that  he 
has  got  two  hundred  more  like  that  ?  My  Lord  !  He  is  ruin- 
ing this  country  if  he  is  getting  up  any  more  like  that. 

Converted  from  what  and  converted  to  what  ?  Christian- 
ity is  not  a  song,  nor  a  sentiment,  nor  a  shout,  nor  a  joining 
the  church;  but  Christianity  is  a  great  principle  buoying 
up  itself  and  manifest.  It  is  wisdom  and  love  and  mercy  and 
justice  and  every  good  word  and  work — that  is  it. 

Well,  to  be  practical  all  along  through — being  in  Christ 
Jesus  pre-supposes,  first,  a  longing  desire  for  Christ,  a  long- 
ing desire  for  the  truth  and  the  noble  and  the  good  and  the 
just.  Oh,  me!  brother,  is  there  a  man  here  to-night  that,  down 
in  his  heart,  never  had  a  longing  desire  for  a  better  life 
and  a  nobler  life  and  a  truer  life?  Is  there  one  ?  Is  there 
a  man  here  that  never  wished  down  in  his  soul  that  he  ''was 
a  wiser  man,  and  a  more  just  man,  and  a  more  loving  man, 
and  a  more  forgiving  man  ?" 

SPIRITUAL  HUNGER. 

Brother,  you  know  what  the  Scripture  says  is  a  healthy, 
good  condition?  Spiritual  hungering  and  thirsting  after 
righteousness.  That  is  a  healthful  religious  experience — 
hungering  and  thirsting  after  righteousness.  Oh,  brother, 
being  in  Christ  Jesus  pre-supposes  a  longing  for  Christ,  a 
desire  for  Christ.     That's  it.     David  said  : 

My  heart  panteth  after  the  living  God  as  the  hart  panteth  for  the  water- 
brooks. 

Longing  for  Christ,  hungering,  thirsting  after  righteous- 
ness. The  supremest  passion  of  a  man's  life  is  his  hunger 
and  his  thirst.     Did  you  ever  locate  the  sensation  of  physical 


What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ.  123 

hunger — did  you  ever  locate  it?  The  little  fellow  struck  it 
right.  He  said,  "Pa,  I'm  hungry;''  and  his  father  said, 
"Son,  how  do  you  feel  when  you  feel  hungry?"  He  said,  "I 
feel  like  1  want  to  chaw  something."  Now,  the  little  fellow 
had  it  rightly.  Now,  the  sensation  of  physical  hunger  is 
located  right  here,  but  the  sensation  of  spiritual  hunger  is  lo- 
cated in  the  will,  it  is  located  in  the  affections,  it  is  located 
in  the  inner  man.  I  long  for  something  better  and  nobler 
and  truer  and  grander.  I  long  for  him  who  was  the  embodi- 
ment of  all  that  was  true  and  all  that  was  good.  That's  it. 
Longing  for  Christ !  The  soul  never  reaches  him  until 
nothing  but  Christ  will  satisfy  the  soul. 

NOTHING   BUT   CHRIST. 

I  have  seen  a  little  two-year-old  boy  whom  the  nurse  has 
in  her  arms,  and  he  is  ringing  and  twisting  and  crying. 
His  mother  is  out,  his  mother  has  gone  to  town,  his  mother 
is  shopping,  and  little  Willie  twists  and  rings  and  cries  and 
kicks  and  slips,  and  away  he  goes;  and  the  nurse  gets  his 
toys.  He  says,  "I  don't  want  no  toys;"  and  she  gets  his 
marbles.  "I  don't  want  no  marbles  ;"  and  she  gets  him  some 
candy.  "I  don't  want  no  candy  ;  I  want  mamma."  And 
directly  mamma  steps  in  the  door  and  the  little  fellow  is 
satisfied,  and  he  runs  up  to  her  and  throws  his  arms  around 
her  neck  and  he  is  as  sweet  as  a  little  angel.  Mamma  has 
come.  That's  what  he  wanted.  'And  I  like  to  see  a  Christian 
whose  soul  longs  for  Christ;  that  won't  be  satisfied  with 
anything  else.  Here  is  a  ball.  "I  don't  want  any  ball." 
Here  is  a  theater.  "I  don't  want  any  theater."  Here  is 
money.  "I  don't  want  any  money ;  I  don't  want  anything. 
I  want  Christ  and  I  won't  have  anything  else."  And  he 
won't  want  anything  else.  And  Christ  always  comes  to  the 
soul  that  will  have  nothing  but  him,  and  he  never  comes  to 
a  soul  while  anything  else  would  satisfy  it.  A  fellow  says: 
"I  sought  religion  a  whole  month,  and  I  never  got  it."  You 
got  something  else.  That  is  what  satisfied  j^ou.  And  Christ 
never  comes  to  the  soul  until  the  soul  reaches  the  point 
where  nothing  will  satisfy  but  him. 

WAITING   FOR   LOVED    ONES. 

Sister,  this  last  cruel  war — some  wives  present  to-night 
may  know  what  I  am  talking  about,  this  last  cruel,  bloody 


124 


What  it  is  to  he  In  Christ. 


war — how  husband  kissed  you  in  the  early  part  of  '61, 
*'Good-by!"  and  he  went  to  the  cruel  war,  and  how  you 
watched  every  mail  and  watched  all  the  telegraphic  reports, 

and  how   anxiously  you 
looked  to  the  battle-field, 
until  by-and-by  husband 
is  gone  two  months,  six 
months,  ten   month; 
twelve    months, 
months,    thirty 
The  single  desire  of  the 


"J  Want  Mammal 

wife's  heart  and  so 
was  for  her  husbai   I 

to  return,  and  notl 

ing  would  satisfy  or  The  Wife's  Constancy. 

gratify  the  longing,  loving  wife 
butthepresence  of  her  husband; 
and  oh  !  how  she  looked,  and 
how  she  longed  and  waited,  and 
how  all  other  pleasures  and  all 
other  enjoyments  faded  away 
in  her  presence,  in  the  presence 
of  this  one  intense,  eternal 
longing  of  her  soul  for  hus- 
band's return  ! 

PENELOPE. 


^      f 


TJi8  SouVs  Longing  for  Ch-ist. 


Take  the  case  of  Penelope, 
perhaps  the  most  beautiful  wo- 
man in  the  world's  history. 
When  Ulysses  went  to  the  war,  and  after  two  years  were  gone, 
and  all  tidings  of  him  were  lost,  this  beautiful  woman  had  oth- 
er suitors.    They  pressed  for  her  hand,  but  she  waited  to  hear 


What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ,  125 

from  him  she  loved.  And  they  pressed  for  her  hand,  and  on  for 
years  they  pressed  for  her  hand;  and  at  last  her  suitors  were 
so  eager  that  she  finally  said  :  *^Gentlemen,  if  you  will  wait 
until  I  weave  out  this  piece  of  cloth  in  the  loom,  then  I  will 
give  you  an  answer."  And  then  she  sat  and  wove  all  day  and 
unraveled  it  all  night,  and  thus  she  worked  and  toiled,  and 
for  ten  more  long  years  in  her  weary  weaving  she  kept  the 
suitors  off;  and  when  Ulysses  returned,  she  said:  ^'Precious 
husband,  I  have  been  faithful  in  my  love,  and  thou  art  re- 
turned!'' And  when  the  soul  gets  to  the  point  where  it 
says :  *'I  am  honest,  I  will  stay  in  my  devotions,  I  will  leave 
and  turn  off  every  other  suitor — the  world,  the  flesh  and 
the  devil — I  will  turn  them  all  off  and  keep  them  at  bay;  I 
will  look  for  the  coming  of  my  Lord,  and  I  will  keep  them 
oft'  until  he  does  come" —  oh,  that  is  longing,  and  longing 
for  Christ! 

FLEEING   TO    CHRIST. 

And  then  this  being  in  Christ  Jesus  pre-supposes  another 
thing.  It  pre-supposes  fleeing  to  Christ.  Oh,  brother,  you 
had  better  not  let  the  grass  grow  up  in  the  pathway  between 
you  and  the  cross — between  you  and  Christ.  Oh,  safe  is  that 
soul  that  always  knows  its  way  to  Christ,  and  always  keeps 
the  path  beaten  out  between  it  and  Christ.  Fleeing  to  Christ 
— this  idea  we  get  from  the  criminal  law.  Under  the  old  re- 
gime, when  a  man  committed  an  offense,  the  one  question 
with  him  was,  "Can  I  reach  the  city  of  refuge?"  and  he  drop- 
ped all  things,  and  left  all  things,  and  pressed  with  all  his 
might  to  the  city  of  refuge;  and  as  soon  as  his  hands  reach- 
ed the  gatepost  and  he  got  inside  the  city,  there  was  no  pow- 
er to  arrest  him  or  punish  him.  And  so  when  the  soul  has 
sinned  against  Christ,  then  the  only  question  that  comes  up 
at  all  is  :  ''Can  I  make  the  city  of  refuge?"  The  great  St. 
Paul  said : 

If  any  man  sin  we  have  an  advocate  with  the  Father — even  Jesus  Christ, 
the  righteous. 

Fleeing  to  Christ !  Look  here.  If  I  wanted  to  make  the 
powers  of  Satan  tremble;  if  I  wanted  to  put  to  flight  all  the 
armies  of  hell,  I  would  not  order  ten  legions  of  angels  from 
the  skies  and  all  the  artillery  of  heaven  turned  loose  on 
him. 


126  What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ. 

BEATING    THE    DEVIL. 

Do  you  know  what  I'd  do  ?     I  would  just  fall  on  my  knees 

and  pray,  and —  * 

Satan  trembles  when  he  sees 
The  weakest  saint  upon  his  knees. 

And  no  man  was  ever  conquered  on  his  knees  in  prayer  to 
God.  I  have  been  at  the  point  where  I  could  not  do  any- 
thing but  pray;  and,  blessed  be  God  !  that's  all  I  needed  to 
do — just  kneel  down  and  pray.  On  my  knees  I  have  work- 
ed out  problems  and  settled  difficulties  that  I  never  could 
have  settled  on  my  feet.  Fleeing  to  Christ !  And  that's  what 
prayer  is.  He  knows  where  you  break  down.  He  knows 
which  wheel  has  broken  and  how  many  wheels  are  broken 
down.  He  knows  whether  it  is  the  axle  or  whether  it  is  the 
wheel.  He  knows  whether  it  is  the  tongue  of  your  wagon 
or  whether  it  is  simply  a  spoke  of  one  of  your  wheels.  Bless- 
ed be  God  !  When  I  run  to  him  he  can  put  his  finger  on  the 
affected  part,  and  he  is  a  balm  in  Gilead  to  heal  all  my  dis- 
eases and  to  re-arrange  all  my  breakages.  Eun  to  Christ!  I 
can  get  along  without  anything  better  than  prayer.  Praj'er 
is  the  communion  of  the  soul  with  God.  I  can  get  along 
without  everything  but  prayer.  I  am  willing  that  you  take 
almost  everything  in  the  world  away  from  me  but  prayer. 
Leave  me  the  privilege  of  rushing  to  God  with  prayer,  and 
I  shall  make  my  way  to  heaven. 

SUBMISSION. 

And  being  in  Christ  Jesus  pre-supposes  again  submission 
to  Christ.  Now  it  is  one  thing  to  long  for  him,  another 
thing  to  run  to  him  in  time  of  danger,  and  it  is  quite  anoth- 
er thing  to  speak  to  him  when  you  get  there.  There  are 
some  mysterious  things  about  the  Bible.  You  say,  ''Submit 
to  Christ.  What  do  you  mean  ?''  I  mean  about  this  :  What- 
ever he  says,  do  it.  Whatever  he  says  you  ought  not  to  do, 
let  it  alone.     That  is  what  I  mean. 

There  are  some  people  in  this  world  who  beg  leave  to  dif- 
fer with  God  on  a  great  many  propositions.     God  says  : 

Look  not  on  the  wine  when  it  is  red  ;  when  it  giveth  its  color  to  the  cup, 

A  fellow  looks  up  and  says,  ''Why?" 
Because  at  the  last  it  biteth  like  a  serpent  and  stingeth  like  an  adder. 

The  fellow  turns  to  his  wife  and  says,  "That's  a  mistake. 


What  it  IS  to  be  In  Christ, 


127 


The  Room  is  Full  of  Serpents" 


I've  been  drinking  for  ten  years,  and  I  ain't  been  bit  yet,  and 

I  never  will  get  bit.     God  is  wrong  about  that;''  and  in  less 

than  five  years  that  wife  sees 

him  taken   to  bed  delirious 

and   drunk,   and    four    men 

holding  him,  and  when  the 

lucid  moment  comes,  he  says, 

^'Precious  wife,  God  told  the 

truth.     At  last,  it  biteth  like 

a   serpent  and  stingeth  like 

an   adder,   and  the   room   is 

full  of  serpents  and  they  are 

biting  all  the  time/^  Oh,  that 

man  that  differs  with  God  has 

made  a  mistake   as  long   as 

eternity. 

PURITANISM. 

Oh,  but  you  say,  ^'I  don't  believe  in  Puritanism.  I  don't  be- 
lieve in  that.  I  believe  the  Lord  means  us  to  enjoy  ourselves 
a  little."  Yes,  that  is  the  way  I  used  to  talk.  ''Why  don't 
the  Lord  want  us  to  dance?     There  ain't  no  harm  in  that." 

PLAIN  TALK  ON  DANCING. 

I  can  go  to  houses — houses  as  morally  dark  and  morally 
degrading  as  perdition  itself — and  I  can  look  at  that  poor 
lost  woman  and  ask  her,  ''Where  did  you  take  your  first 
downward  step  to  death  and  hell?"  "At  a  ball-room." 
"Well,"  God  advised  us  not  to  go  into  reveling."  "Well,  I 
didn't  think  the  Lord  was  right  about  that.  I  differed  with 
him."  "Well,  how  did  you  come  out?  How  did  you  come 
out?"  There  is  not  a  family — I  speak  it  because  I  believe 
it — there  is  not  a  family  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis  where  the 
father  who  trains  his  children  for  ball-rooms  and  gcr- 
mans  can  lay  his  hands  upon  the  head  of  his  daughter  and 
say  :  "This  daughter  will  die  as  pure  as  an  angel."  You  can 
not  say  it.  Other  men's  daughters  as  pure,  as  lovely  as 
yours,  have  been  down,  with  the  devil's  feet  on  them — and 
a  woman  never  gets  up  when  the  devil  puts  his  feet  on  her 
once !     Submission  to  Christ — there  is  the  test. 

CARDS. 

"Well,  I  don't  see  any  harm  in  a  social  game  of  cards."  You 


128  What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ. 

see  that  man  that  has  just  lost  his  last  cent,  and  his  wife  and 
children  going  hungry?  You  see  that  man  as  he  watches 
his  winning  opponent  in  the  game  and  sees  at  which  room 
in  the  hotel  he  is  registered.  You  see  him  slip  with  a  false  key 
into  that  room,  and,  by  the  pale,  clear  moonlight,  as  he 
lifts  the  glittering  dagger,  he  says  :  *'  I  could  not  win  it  at 
cards,  but  I  must  have  it,"  and  sticks  the  dagger  deep  into  the 
victim's  heart,  and  pillages  his  pockets,  and  walks  out  of  the 
room.  And  that  boy  was  raised  in  a  Christian  home,  and  a 
Methodistfather  showed  him  first  how  to  play  cards  !  *'I  beg 
leave  to  differ  with  God  about  some  things" — don't  you  see? 

An  old  sinner  ninety  years  old  told  me  once — said  he  :  "I 
never  proved  any  but  one  passage  of  Scripture,  but  I  know 
that  is  true."  ''What  is  that  ?"  "That  passage,"  he  says, 
''which  tells  us,  'The  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard.'  " 
That's  so. 

One  of  the  soldiers  in  the  last  war  told  me  a  story  which 
has  an  interesting  application  here.  He  said:  "Jones,  I 
fought  in  one  hundred  different  battles.  I  have  faced  the 
musket  and  the  cannon  as  they  flashed  in  my  face ;  but,"  he 
said,  "the  hardest  thing  I  had  to  do  during  the  war  was  to 
obey  the  order  to  lie  down."  He  said  :  "Every  man  fell  upon 
his  face  and  the  shell  and  shot  just  whizzed  and  buzzed  over 
our  forms  as  we  lay  sheltered  there.  The  hardest  thing  I  had 
to  do  during  the  whole  war  was  to  lie  still  under  fire;  but  if  I 
had  got  up  I  would  have  been  riddled  with  bullets  in  a  min- 
ute." Now,  when  Almighty  God  lets  loose  his  grape  and 
canister,  you  had  better  lie  low,  you  had.  And  every  bul- 
let hole  you  have  in  your  body  to-day,  you  have  because  you 
would  not  be  still.     That  is  it. 

PARALYZING  SINS. 

You  say,  "Jones,  why  don't  you  preach  against  stealing, 
lying  and  drunkenness?"  It  is  because  they  ain't  hurting  the 
Church.  Nobody  has  any  respect  for  you  old  red-nosed 
devils  in  the  Church.  They  don't  notice  you.  They  have 
got  no  respect  for  you.  Nobody  has  any  respect  for 
you  if  you  are  a  liar.  Nobody  bothers  with  you  if  you 
steal.  Nobody  cares  anything  about  you.  I  will  tell  you 
itain't  lying,  stealing  and  drunkenness  that  are  cursing  the 
Church,  and  paralyzing  her  power.     It   is  these   worldly 


What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ.  129 

amusements  that  are  sweeping  over  our  homes  and  churches, 
and  paralyzing  us  and  making  us  to-day  little  better  than  a 
grave-yard.     That  is  it. 

I  never  saw  a  spiritual  man  in  my  life  that  would  stand 
up  and  ask  me,  "Do  you  think  there  is  any  harm  in  the 
dance?  ^'  Why  don't  you  ask  me  if  I  think  there  is  any 
harm  in  a  prayer-meeting,  or  if  I  think  there  is  any  harm  in 
family  prayer  ?  You  know  there  ain't.  And  whenever  j^ou 
hear  a  fellow  asking  if  there  is  any  harm  in  the  dance,  you 
can  reply,  "You  lying  old  rascal,  you  know  there  is."  [Mr. 
Jones,  turning  to  the  ministers  seated  behind  him,  asked:] 
Why  don't  you  say  amen? 

Submission!  Oh!  the  wisest  spirit  ever  manifested  by 
mortal  man  is  that  spirit  that  first  said  :  "I  will  be  loyal  to 
him,  and  then  lie  still  under  fire.  I  will  be  loyal.  Though 
he  slay  me,  I  will  hope  while  I  live.'' 

PERSONAL   IDEAS. 

And  I  will  say  this  much.  My  Christianity  has  done  this 
much  for  me.  Hear  me  now,  every  one  of  j^ou.  I  can  say  it, 
I  think,  as  truthfully  as  I  ever  said  anything.  I  have 
danced  many  a  night.  I  have  played  cards  a  little.  I  never 
got  much  interested  in  them,  for  I  think  card-playing  is  the 
game  of  starvelings,  mental  and  spiritual.  If  I  had  children 
that  would  not  read  a  book,  and  would  not  be  interested  in 
anything  that  ought  to  be  interesting  to  intelligent  beings, 
I  would  learn  them  all  to  play  cards.  The  little  simpletons, 
I  would  run  them  on  that  line.  If  I  had  a  daughter  that 
was  such  a  simpleton  that  she  had  only  just  sense  enough  to 
be-have  herself,  I  would  send  her  to  a  hook-nosed  French 
dancing-master  and  I  would  tell  him  to  make  her  graceful, 
and  say:  "Her  head's  a  failure,  and  I  want  you  to  make  it 
up  on  the  feet."  The  law  of  compensation,  of  checks  and 
balances,  ought  to  work  here,  ought  it  not?  I  would  say  to 
the  hook-nosed  Frenchman,  "Bring  her  feet  up  right.  She 
is  a  failure 'in  the  head."  I  would  learn  her  to  dance  grace- 
fully, and  marry  her  off  to  some  ball-room  dude,  and  buy 
them  a  place  away  off  in  the  country,  and  tell  them  never  to 
come  and  see  me.  When  I  got  anxious  to  see  them  I  would 
take  her  mother  and  go  and  see  them. 

METHODIST   MOTHERS. 

A   Methodist  mother,  taking  her  innocent  children  and 


130  What  it  is  to  he  In  Christ. 

placing  them  in  the  care  find  under  the  training  of  an  old 
hook-nosed  Frenchman — the  mean  old  devil — teaching  peo- 
ple his  manners  !  I  have  a  contempt  for  that  sort  of  people — 
and  maybe  the  rascal  has  not  been  out  of  jail  three  months 
before  coming  here  and  starting  his  dancing  school.  Oh,  if 
I  have  a  contempt  for  a  being  in  this  universe  that  I  cannot 
reach  down  to,  it  is  a  dancing  master.  His  only  business  is 
to  go  about  through  the  community  despoiling  the  spiritual 
interests  of  children  and  making  them  fall  in  love  with  giddy 
worldliness  and  foolishness  that  will  damn  them  in  the  end.  I 
have  made  many  of  them  get  in  places  where  I  have  preached. 
I  have  gone  into  towns  often  thousand  and  fifteen  thousand 
where  such  a  fellow  has  a  grand  dancing  school,  and  I  would 
not  want  more  than  forty-eight  hours  to  bring  him  up.  I 
would  shell  the  woods  for  him  a  time  or  two  and  then  you'd 
see  him  start  hitting  the  ground  about  a  mile  a  minute. 

And  that  is  the  sentiment  of  every  preacher  here  this 
night.  It  is  your  sentiment.  It  is  the  sentiment  of  all  of 
us.  If  I  was  a  pastor  here,  and  had  a  sister  in  my  church 
that  sent  her  children  to  a  dancing  school,  I  would  turn  her 
out.  Not  the  little  children,  but  the  old  hypocrite  of  a 
mother. 

SIMPLE  RELIGIOUS  SENSE. 

Submission  !  Submission  !  It  means  if  I  swear  loyalty 
to  the  right,  I  will  submit  to  it.  No  matter  what  it  costs 
me )  no  matter  what  criticisms  are  brought  to  bear  on  me,  I 
will  do  right,  I  will  do  right.  Let  people  say  he  is  a  dolt; 
let  people  say  he  is  a  simple,  and  that  he  has  no  better  sense 
than  to  be  religious.  God  bless  you,  there  are  a  good  many 
people  in  this  world  who  have  got  just  sense  enough  to  be 
religious,  and  you  will  find  on  the  day  of  judgment  that  they 
are  the  only  sensible  people  in  town — those  fellows  that 
had  just  sense  enough  to  be  religious.  Submission!  Sub- 
mission 1  I  will  do  right  because  it  is  right,  and  I  will  not 
do  wrong  if  I  know  it.  That  is  what  every  Christian  ought 
to  say.  Now,  if  worldlings  and  non-members  of  the  Church 
want  to  do  otherwise,  we  say  it  is  in  a  line  with  their  pro- 
fessions; but  wo  do  not  want  Church  members  to  follow  in 
that  line.  A  woman  can  be  a  perfect  lady  and  dance,  but 
she  cannot  be  a  Christian  and  dance.  That  is  as  true  a 
thing  as  ever  I  uttered.     A  w^oman  may  be  as  true  a  lady  as 


What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ. 


131 


ever  walked  the  earth,  and  attend  theaters,  but  she  cannot 
be  a  Christian  and  do  it,  to  save  the  world.  A  man  may  be 
as  nice  a  gentleman  as  ever  walked  this  earth  and  play 
cards  every  night  in  his  home,  but  he  cannot  be  a  Chris- 
tian and  do  it.     That  is  as  certain  as  this  world  exists. 

HOW  HE  KNOWS  IT. 

You  ask  me  how  I  know.  I  got  religion  fourteen  years 
ago  and  I  know  how  those  things  served  me,  and  I  reckon 
they  serve  about  every  fellow  the  same  way.  If  I,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Church,  were  to  begin  dancing,  or  playing  cards, 
or  carousing  in  my  family,  I  would  go  to  the  preacher  and 
say,  "Take  my  name  off  the  roll.  I  will  never  be  a  hypo- 
crite." 

Submission!  The  idea  is  this,  "Speak  Lord,  thy  servant 
hearethj  thou  art  true  and  just.  Oh  God,  sj^eak  out  and  I 
will  hear  it,  and  when  I  hear  I  will  obey.''     That  is  what! 


A  Roge7's'  Engine  (Kogors'  Locomotive  AVorlcs,  Puterson,  N.  J.) — Sam 
Jones'*  Beau  Ideal  of  a  Live  Christian  Man. 

mean  by  submission.  I  think  every  Christian  man  in  the 
world  ought  to  givehimself  upasfully  to  Grodas  one  of  those 
grand  Koger  engines  gives  itself  up  to  the  engineer.  I  have 
stood  on  those  engines,  and  as  I  talked  with  the  engineer  I 
have  seen  him  stand  with  his  hand  on  the  throttle  and  his 
eye  on  the  track.  Prcscntl}^  he  would  pull  his  watch  out  and 
look  at  it  quietly.  Then  I  would  see  him  pull  the  tnrottle  a 
little  wider  open,  as  much  as  to  say,  "Grive  me  six  or  eight 

9 


132  What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ, 

more  miles  an  hour — we  are  getting  a  little  behind."  And  I 
have  seen  him  as  he  approached  a  station  shut  the  throttle 
oif,  drop  the  lever  forward,  and  stop  the  engine  right  where 
he  wanted  to  stop  it.  I  think  every  Christian  man  should 
turn  his  soul  over  to  God,  just  as  the  engine  turns  its  throt- 
tie  over  to  the  engineer,  and  say :  ''Oh,  Lord,  if  I  get  a  lit- 
tle behind,  open  my  soul  and  I  will  move  faster ;  or  if  I  am 
going  too  fast,  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  shut  me  off  a  little, 
and  I  will  slacken  my  speed." 

MORAL   AFFINITIES. 

Submission,  and  being  in  Christ  Jesus,  pre-supposes,  lastly, 
affinities  that  control  my  nature  in  such  a  way  that  I  am 
alike  in  every  sense.     I  have  gone  into  a  room  where  there 
was  a  husband  and  wife,  who  had  been  living  together  for 
fifty  years  and  more.     They  had  just  had  their  golden  wed- 
ding.    I  sat  down  and  looked  at  them  a  few  minutes,  and 
I  said,  ''Well,  well ;  that  man  and  his  wife  look  as  much  like 
brother  and  sister  as  any  two  people  I  have  ever  seen  in  my 
life.     Did  you  ever  see  brother  and  sister  more  alike  than 
that  man  and  his  wife  ?"     Then  I  commenced  to  talk  to  them 
and  said  :    "  Well,  well,  the  very  intonations  of  their  voices 
are  alike."     Then  directly  the  old  lady  said  so  and  so,  and 
the  old  man  said  :     "I  was  just  going  to  ask  that  myself;" 
and  I  thought  to  myself:  "Not  only  do  they  look  alike,  not 
only  are  the  intonations  of  their  voices  alike,  but  they  think 
alike."     Brother  and  sister,  may  our  affinities  lead  us  to 
where  we    not    only    look    like    good    men,    but    where 
the  very   intonations  of  our  voices  are  molded  by  the  spirit 
of   the  Master.     And   not  only  that,  but  when  you  speak 
out  and  say,  "Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see 
Grod,"  it  will  be  said,  "He  talkslike  Christ  talked.     Helooks 
like  a  good  man,  and  I  could  have  told  he  was  a  good  man 
anywhere."     Oh,  brethren,  do  not  lose  any  time  in  hungar- 
ing  for  the  right,  in  looking  for  the  right,  and  in  submitting 
to  the  right,  until  you  get  right  from  head  to  foot,  and  you 
become  a  big  bundle  of  rightness. 

WHERE  TO  GO  FOR  HELP. 

And  if  any  man  wants  to  be  made  whole,  if  you  feel  your 
weakness,  go  to  him  of  whom  I  have  been  talking  to-night. 


What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ.  133 

He  IS  approachable,  he  is  available  to  every  one  of  you,  and 
the  highway  that  leads  to  him  is  a  wide  one,  open  to  every 
soul  hereto-night.  I  just  want  to  tell  you  this  in  conclusion. 
Fourteen  years  ago  last  August  there  was  an  occurrence  in 
my  life  that  reminded  me  very  much  of  an  event  which  oc- 
curred when  Christ  was  on  earth.  You  recollect  once  he  got 
on  board  of  a  little  ship  with  his  disciples  and  started  across 
the  Lake  of  Genesareth.  That  little  lake  was  hemmed  in 
with  mountains,  that  towered  hundreds  of  feet  around  it,  and 
it  seemed  to  be  secure  from  the  winds.  At  times,  however, 
furious  storms  came  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  four  winds  of 
heaven  were  striving  to  see  which  should  have  charge  of 
that  little  lake.  The  winds  came  rushing  and  bearing  down 
upon  the  lake  that  time,  and  the  waves  began  to  roll  and  the 
water  was  lashed  into  foam.  The  little  vessal  rocked  and 
pitched  and  creaked  under  the  pressure  of  the  waves,  and 
the  disciples,  affrighted,  ran  and  waked  the  Master,  and 
said  :  '^  Master,  we  are  engulfed.  We  are  destroyed  for- 
ever." Jesus  looked  at  the  terrific  storm.  How  the  vessel 
shakes  and  pitches,  and  how  the  disciples  tremble  with  fear! 
The  Master  awoke  and  wiped  the  spray  from  his  forehead,  and 
walked  to  the  prow  of  the  little  ship.  He  reached  down 
and  pulled  the  angry  lake  on  his  knee  and  dandled  it  to 
sleep  like  a  mother  would  an  infant  child.  And  the  disciples 
said  :     ''Oh,  what  a  calm  I" 

THE   EVERLASTING   PEACE. 

One  day,  fourteen  years  ago,  with  my  soul  pitched  and 
tossed  and  driven  by  the  storms  of  temptation,  I  rushed 
right  into  his  presence.  He  took  me  up  and  pulled  me  to 
his  great  loving  heart,  and  he  said,  "My  peace  I  give  unto 
thee;"  and  I  went  away  saying,  "Now,  blessed  be  God; 
not  a  wave  of  trouble  rolls  across  my  peaceful  breast."  Oh, 
brother,  here  is  a  calm.  The  soul  that  was  in  the  midst  of 
storms  all  its  life  is  enjoying  that  blessed  calm  to-day.  Oh, 
Christ,  give  us  the  words  to-night  that  will  bring  a  calm  to 
every  soul !  JSTow  we  are  going  to  dismiss  you  with  the 
benediction  ;  but  before  we  dismiss  you  we  make  this  propo- 
sition :  I  want  every  Christian  man  in  this  house — I  do  not 
care  of  what  Church  you  are  a  member;  and  if  you  have  no 
Church  you  can  accept  the  proposition — to  say;  "God  help- 


134  What  it  is  to  be  In  Christ. 

ing  me,  I  intend  to  be  a  more  circumspect  Christian,  and  1 
am  going  to  do  better  3^^  or  you  can  say,  "I  am  going  to  do 
my  best."  I  like  that  sort  of  fellows.  Heaven  is  just 
on  the  other  side  of  a  fellow  that  is  doing  his  best.  Breth- 
ren, I  have  but  a  few  more  messages  to  you  as  Church  mem- 
bers. I  want  every  professor  of  religion  in  this  house,  I  do 
not  care  whether  he  is  a  preacher  or  a  member  of  the- 
Church,  or  whether  in  the  Church  or  not,  if  you  want  to 
glorify  God  with  a  pure,  thankful,  loyal  love — I  want  every 
one  of  you  to  stand  up  with  me — and  do  not  stand  up  unless 
you  mean  it — and  breathe  a  prayer  to  G-od  to  keep  you 
faithful  unto  death.  [All  in  the  church  rose.]  Well,  thank 
God,  what  a  host.  Now  if  there  is  a  non-professor  who 
hears  the  prayers  of  these  people,  and  you  will  stand  up,  we 
will  pray  for  you  the  best  we  can.  Thank  God,  nearly  every- 
body stands  up.  I  think  you  mean  it;  you  look  as  if  you 
mean  it.  l^ow,  blessed  Lord  God,  baptize  us  in  that  reso- 
lution ;  fasten  it  on  us,  and  may  we  be  faithful  from  this 
hour  until  God  shall  say  :  '^It  is  enough,  come  up  higher." 


^EF^MON  VII. 
fARTAKEFJg    Of    THE    JlVlflE    j^ATUI^E. 


According  as  his  divine  power  hath  given  unto  us  all  things  that  pertain 
unto  life  and  godliness,  through  the  knowledge  of  him  that  hath  called  us  to 
glory  and  virtue. —  2isrD  Peter  ;  1. 

YP  et   us   notice   two    or  three   of  these   verses   as   we   go 
Mil  along. 

According  as  his  divine  power  hath  given  unto  us  all  things  that  pertain 
to  life  and  godliness. 

Did  you  ever  face  this  fact  in  your  religious  experience, 
that  there  may  be  a  thousand  reasons  why  some  men  do  not 
succeed  at  law ;  that  there  may  be  a  thousand  reasons  why 
some  men  fail  in  merchandising;  that  there  may  be  a  thou- 
sand reasons  why  some  men  fail  in  agriculture;  but  do  you 
ever  meet  this  fact:  that  there  is  no  reason  in  heaven  or  earth 
or  hell  why  any  man  should  fail  to  bo  an  earnest,  faithful 
Christian  man?  There  are  reasons  why  men  fail  in  every 
other  profession  and  every  other  calling,  but  there  are  no 
reasons  why  any  man  should  fail  in  being  a  successful  Chris- 
tian. 

According  as  his  divine  power  hath  given  unto  us  all  things  that  pertain 
to  life  and  godliness. 

If  lam  not  a  successful,  happy,  earnest  Christian,  it  is  not 
the  deviFs  fault;  it  is  not  the  fault  of  the  grace  of  God  ;  it  is 
not  the  fault  of  this  book  ;  it  is  not  the  fault  of  anything 
without ;  but  my  trouble  lies  deep  within. 

All  things  that  pertain  to  life  and  godliness . 

THE  SOURCE  OF  GOODNESS. 

Let  US  face  this  fact  a  moment.  If  I  am  a  good  man,  I  am 
a  good  man  on  purpose.  If  I  am  not  a  good  man  I  am  pur- 
posely not  a  good  man.  Nobody  ever  was  religious  b}^  ac- 
cident. The  grace  of  Grod  never  made  any  man  religious.  The 
Bible  never  made  any  man  religious.  Preaching  never  made 
any  man  religious.  These  are  all  grand  instrumentalities  in 
135 


136 


Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature. 


the  hands  of  Grod,  but  no  man  was  and  no  man  ever  will  be  re- 
ligions until  he  settles  it  once  uncompromisingly  and  forev- 
er, ''  I  will  be  religious,  whether  I  am  anything  else  or  not. 
If  I  fail  in  everything  else,  I  will  succeed  in  this.  If  I  don't 
do  anything  else,  I  Avill  do  this."  Like  the  great  one  who 
succeeded  in  the  highest  sense — St.  Paul.  He  said : 
One  thing  I  do. 
Suppose  I  succeed.  I  am  a  success  for  all  worlds.  Sup- 
pose I  fail  in  this  and  succeed  in  everything  else,  like  Corn- 
elius Yanderbilt,  the  richest  man  that  ever  bade  America 
*'good-by''  and  stepped  into  eternity.  He  turned  to  his  old- 


The  Millionaire  Beggar's  Dying  Request 

est  boy  and  passed  $75,000,000  into  his  hands;  $25,000,000 
additional  he  turned  over  to  the  rest  of  his  heirs;  and  then,  in 
his  last  moments,  turned  to  his  Christian  wife,  and  asked  her ; 
"Wife,  please  sing, 

"  Come,  ye  sinners,  poor  and  needy ; 
"Weak  and  wounded,  sick  and  sore." 
The  richest  man  that  America  ever  produced  asking  his 
wife  to  sing  the  song  of  a  beggar! 
The  next  verse  reads  : 
"Whereby  are  given  unto  us  exceeding  great  and  precious  promises,  that  by 
these  ye  might  be  made  partakers  of  the  divine  nature,  having  escaped  the  cor- 
ruption that  is  in  the  world  through  lust. 


Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature.  137 

PARTAKERS  OF  THE  DIVINE  NATURE. 

What  does  that  mean — 
Being  made  partakers  of  the  divine  nature. 

Here  is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  plainest,  clearest   statements 
of  the  beginning  of  a  Christian  life. 
Being  made  partakers  of  the  divine  nature. 

E"ow,  here's  a  man  who  has  been,  perhaps,  intemperate  at 
times,  worldly-minded,  covetous,  wicked,  wayward,  godless, 
and  now  here  is  a  pivotal  moment  in  his  life.  Perhaps  it  is 
the  death  of  his  precious  wife;  perhaps  it  is  the  burial  of  one 
of  his  sweet  children ;  perhaps  it  was  an  earnest  sermon; 
but  sometime,  something  somewhere  touched  his  heart, 
and  touched  his  conscience,  and  he  says  to  himself:  ^' I  be- 
lieve ril  decide  upon  a  better  life.  I  ought  to  be  good. 
Tm  sorry  I'm  bad.  I  would  give  the  rest  of  my  days  to  no- 
bler, better  things."  He  eschews  evil  and  learns  to  do  good, 
and  on  and  on  he  walks  away  from  evil  and  walks  into  good, 
and  maybe  six  months  later  there  is  a  happy,  joyous.  Chris- 
tian experience  brought  about.  When  was  that  man  made 
a  partaker  of  the  divine  nature?  It  was  in  that  moment, 
way  back  yonder,  when  he  said:  "I  am  wrong.  I  ought 
to  get  right."  That  moment  way  back  yonder,  when  he 
said:  ^'■Vm  bad;  Fm  sorry  I  am.  I  have  offended  God  and 
lived  in  sin.  I  would  seek  the  favor  of  God  and  live  in 
righteousness."  It  was  way  back  there  that  that  man  was 
made  partaker  of  the  divine  nature,  and  he  yielded  and  re- 
sponded and  fostered  and  nursed  that  divine  touch,  until,  by- 
and-by,  it  budded  and  blossomed  into  a  glorious  religious 
experience. 

god's  moiety. 

A  little  leaven  leaveneth  the  whole  lump. 

I  used  to  think  that  if  God  couldn't  get  all  the  heart  he 
wouldn't  take  any.  I  made  a  mistake  there.  Brother,  if 
you  will  surrender  God  an  inch  of  space  in  your  heart  to- 
night, God  will  occupy  that  space,  and  God  will  do  for  a  man 
and  do  in  a  man  just  in  proportion  as  God  can  get  hand-room 
and  foot-room  to  work.  And  God  will  work  that  space  so 
well  and  the  fruitage  will  be  so  glorious,  that  if  we  will  sur- 
render every  space  and  every  place,  God  will  go  on  with 
the  conquest  until  he  shall  possess  the  whole.     Or,  if  you 


138  Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature. 

draw  the  line  anyway,  and  say  to  Grod  :  ''  Thus  far  thou 
shalt  go  and  no  farther;'^  then  Grod  will  surrender  to  you 
the  space  he  already  occupied,  and  the  last  state  of  that 
man  is  worse  than  the  first. 

According  as  his  divine  power  hath  *  *  *  made  us  partakers  of  the 
divine  nature. 

Is  there  a  man  here  to-night,  twenty  or  thirty  or  forty 
years  old,  that  down  in  his  conscience  feels  like,  "I  am  bad  j 
I  am  sorry  for  it;  I  ought  to  be  good.  I  want  to  be  good  V 
The  good  Spirit  of  all  grace  has  touched  that  man's  heart. 
And  now,  brother,  you  foster  and  cherish  and  nurse  and  per- 
petuate that  desire  in  your  soul,  until  it  shall  spring  up  and 
develop  into  a  burning,  hungering  and  thirsting  after  right- 
eousness. Don't  despise  the  day  of  small  things.  A  great 
many  in  the  Church,  and  a  great  many  out  of  the  Church, 
are  waiting  for  some  wonderful  transformation.  They  are 
waiting  for  some  wonderful  something  to  possess  them.  A 
great  many  of  us  are  alike.  We  would  want  such  an  experi- 
ence as  that  of  St.  Paul,  for  instance. 

GOD   NEVER  WASTES   POWDER. 

Well,  St.  Paul  was  a  wonderful  man.  He  was  big  game, 
and  Grod  used  big  ammunition  and  big  guns  on  big  game — • 
understand  that.  Paul — it  took  the  biggest  cannon  of  heav' 
en  loaded  to  its  muzzle  to  bring  him  down,  and  it  brought 
him  down  to  surrender.  And  there's  many  a  littlefellow  in 
this  country  wanting  God  to  shoot  off  that  same  gun  at  him. 
And  if  God  did,  it  wouldn't  leave  a  grease  spot  of  you,  you 
poor  little  fellow.  God  is  too  merciful  to  turn  such  guns 
loose  on  your  sort.  God  never  shoots  cannon  balls  at  snow- 
birds. Don't  forget  that.  Fancy  a  snow-bird  perched  on 
the  twig  of  a  persimmon  bush  and  saying,  ^'I'll  never  move 
until  a  cannon  ball  hits  me" — and  that  would  be  his  last 
.move. 

According  as  his  divine  power  hath  given  us  all  things  that  pertain  to  life 
and  godliness,  through  the  knowledge  of  Him  that  hath  called  us  to  glory  and 
virtue : 

"Whereby  are  given  unto  us  exceeding  great  and  precious  promises — 

Oh,  brother!  How  divine  the  truth  that  God  always  prom- 
ises to  help  a  man  to  be  good  if  he  wants  to  be  good.  And 
my  theology  at  last,  brother,  is  in  but  two  sentences.     God 


Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature,  139 

cannot  arbitrarily  make  any  man  a  good  man.  If  ho  could 
we  would  all  be  good,  for  he  wills  that  we  should  all  be  mor- 
al. The  devil  cannot  arbitrarily  m.ake  any  man  a  bad  man. 
If  he  could  we  would  all  be  bad.  My  theology  is  wrapped 
in  these  two  declarations.  If  you  want  to  be  good,  say  so, 
and  God  will  help  you.  If  you  want  to  be  bad,  say  so,  and 
the  devil  will  help  you.  I  needn't  tell  you  that.  You  know 
that.  J 

FAITH   IN    god's   PROMISES. 
Exceeding  great  and  precious  promises. 

Promises  that  come  down  to  me,  and  reach  out  to  me,  and 
overshadow  me,  and  that  are  like  a  great  granite  rock  under 
my  feet  as  I  walk  on  the  promises  of  God.  There  is  no 
bankrupting  the  soul  that  carries  in  its  consciousness  the 
promises  of  God.  E"ow,  brother,  let  us  take  a  sensible  view 
of  this.  Let's  you  and  I  not  wait  for  anything ;  but  let's  you 
and  I  decide  to-night :  ''  Yes,  I  want  to  be  good,  and  I  de- 
cide to  be  good."  And  that  isn't  all.  ''I  believe  God  will 
help  me,  and  Fm  going  to  start  out  on  that  line  to-night.'^ 

The  greatest  curse  of  men  is,  they  are  going  to  be  good 
after  awhile.  '^  Til  be  good  next  year,"  and  so  on.  Well,  if 
you  and  I  are  ever  going  to  be  good  it  is  time  we  begun. 
And  if  we  are  never  going  to  be  good,  let's  say  so  and  settle 
it  forever.     Now,  besides  a  start  like  this,  he  says: 

And  besides  this,  giving  all  diligence,  add  to  your  faith  virtue,  and  to  virtue 
knowledge. 

And  to  knowledge  temperance,  and  to  temperance  patience,  and  to  patience 
godliness,  and  to  godliness  brotherly  kindness,  and  to  brotherly  kindness 
charity. 

For,  if  those  things  be  in  you  and  abound,  they  make  you  that  ye  shall 
neither  be  barren  nor  unfruitful  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

But  he  that  lacketh  these  things — 

Listen  ! — 
He  that  lacketh  these  things  is  blind  and  cannot  see  afar  off. 

NEAR-SIGHTED    CHRISTIANS. 

You  see  the  seeming  contradictory  senses  in  which  these 
words  are  put — 

— Is  blind  and  cannot  see  afar  off. 

He  can  see  all  around  him.  He  can  see  stocks  and  bonds 
and  money,  and  worldly  goods  and  fruits.  Ah  me  I  He  is 
what  you  might  call  a  near-sighted  Christian.     He  can  see 


140  Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature, 

everything  about  him;  he  can  see  the  profits  and  losses  of 
each  day's  business;  he  can  see  his  mansion  and  see  his 
town  property  and  see  his  railroad  interests,  and  so  on^  right 
about  him;  but  he — 

Is  blind  and  cannot  see  afar  off. 

Ah,  me,  brother!  It  is  these  long-sighted  fellows  that 
win.  This  one  that  looked  ahead  into  eternity  and  can  say, 
*'My  treasure  is  laid  uj)  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  where 
neither  moth  nor  rust  doth  corrupt  and  where  thieves  do  not 
break  through  and  steal." 

You  can  tell  a  near-sighted  man.  Nothing  out  of  the 
range  of  his  sight  excites  him  or  moves  him.  That  man 
standing  by  you  there — you  see  a  cyclone  coming,  but  he 
stands  there  without  a  motion  of  his  body.  These  men  that 
can  not  see  into  eternity  and  cannot  see  beyond,  they  are  nev- 
er excited.  They  call  these  other  men  "  religious  enthusiasts." 
And  I  declare  to  you  to-night,  wo  have  got  a  great  many 
near-sighted  Methodists  and  Baptists  and  Presbyterians  and 
Episcopalians  and  so  forth  in  this  city.  That  father,  there, 
can  see  his  boy  going  into  business  and  can  seo  him  suc- 
ceed in  business;  but  how  about  your  boy's  soul  and  eter- 
nity? Can't  see  anything  there.  That  mother  can  see  her 
daughter  projected  into  society  and  see  her  marry  well, 
and  see  her  move  off  to  herself  and  start  well  in  life ;  but 
how  about  your  daughter's  eternal  interests?  Can't  see 
anything  there.  Oh,  the  near-sighted  people  of  this  world. 
They  are — 

Blind  and  cannot  see  afar  off. 

rORGETFUL  BACKSLIDERS. 

And  listen  : 
And  have  forgotten  that  they  were  purged  from  their  old  sins. 

There  is  not  an  old  backslider  in  this  town,  but  what,  when 
you  see  him  down,  will  say,  "  I  sort  of  doubt  whether  I  ever 
was  religious  or  not.     I  don't  think  I  ever  was  a  Christian." 

Forgets,  you  see  ! 

There  is  not  a  miserable  backslidden  person  in  this  com- 
munity to-night,  but  what,  when  you  bring  him  square  to 
the  issue,  he'll  tell  you,  "Well,  I  thought  I  was  converted 
then,  and  I  thought  I  enjoyed  religion,  but  I  think  now  I  was 
mistaken."  "Think  now  I  was  mistaken!"  Haven't  you  heard 


Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature.  141 

that  all  around  ?  "  I  am  afraid  I  was  mistaken."  Poor  fel- 
low !  He  has  got  into  things  that  have  so  engrossed  him 
and  so  taken  up  his  time,  he  has  forgotten  all  about  how 
good  God  was  to  him,  and  how  God  blessed  him;  and  how 
had  he  lived  for  months,  and  maybe  years  ? 

Blind  andcaunot  see  afar  off,  and  hath  forgotten  that  he  was  purged  from 
his  old  sins. 

I  don't  know  what  you'll  do  with  all  this  sort,  unless  you 
turn  them  over  to  us  Methodists.      We  believe  in  that  sort. 

I  want  to  tell  you  of  another  thing  right  along  at  this 
point.  There  are  ten,  there  are  twenty  warnings  in  the  word 
of  God  to  Christian  people,  lest  they  fail,  lest  they  go  back 
— there  are  twenty  warnings  to  Christian  people  to  hold 
fast  their  profession  of  faith,  to  where  there  is  one  call  to  the 
sinner  to  come  to  repentance.  And  now  what  do  you  say? 
It  looks  like  there  is  danger  along  that  line. 

THE  MATTER  OF  DILIGENCE. 

Now,  giving  all  diligence. 

Oh,  me!  A  religious  life  is  a  pious  life,  it  is  an  earnest  life, 
it  is  an  energetic  life,  it  is  a  life  in  which  every  man  ought 
to  lay  aside  every  weakness  and  the  sin  that  doth  so  easily 
beset  him,  and  run  with  patience  the  race  set  before  him. 

An  energetic,  an  enthusiastic  life!  Ah,  me  !  A  life  like 
St.  Paul,  when  once  convinced,  and  when  once  he  swore  his 
allegiance  to  Christ,  from  that  moment  until  he  passed  out  of 
the  world  he  was  a  grand  rolling  ball  of  fire  all  through  his 
life  and  all  through  earth. 

Oh,  brother, 
Giving  all  diligence. 

I  can  tell  when  a  man  is  in  earnest.  If  you  let  me  watch 
the  first  three  months  of  that  young  lawyer's  life  after  he 
chooses  the  profession  of  law — I  won't  need  any  tongue  of 
prophet  to  tell  you  whether  he  means  business  or  not.  I  see 
the  young  fellow  choosing  the  profession  of  law,  and  instead 
of  poring  over  Blackstone  and  Greenleaf  and  all  the  law 
books,  I  see  him  no-w  spending  his  evenings  with  the  girls  and 
loitering  around  the  street.  I  don't  need  any  tongue  of 
prophet  to  say  that  fellow  will  never  get  but  one  case  and  the 
sheriff  will  get  his  client. 

I  see  a  young  fellow  starting  out  to  be  a  doctor.     Let  me 


142  Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature, 

watch  him  three  months.  I  see  him  loitering  away  his  time 
and  spending  his  evenings  in  j^arties,  and  paying  no  atten- 
tion to  physiology  and  anatomy  and  hygiene,  and  so  forth. 
I  turn  around  and  I  can  see  what  he  will  be.  He  will  have 
but  one  patient,  and  the  undertaker  will  get  him  next  day, 
and  that  will  wind  up  his  practice. 

MINISTERIAL  AIR-GUNS. 

I  see  a  preacher  starting  out  who  proposes  to  be  a  preach- 
er; never  looks  in  a  book,  never  thinks,  never  studies;  he 
is  going  to  open  his  mouth  and  let  the  Lord  fill  it.  Well,  the 
Lord  does  fill  a  fellow's  mouth  as  soon  as  he  opens  it,  but  he 
fills  it  with  air.  And  there's  many  an  old  air-gun  going 
through  this  country  professing  to  be  a  preacher.  I  have  lis- 
tened to  some  men  preaching  an  hour,  and  they  didn't  say 
one  thing  in  the  hour;  and  I  got  perfectly  interested  seeing 
how  the  fellow  could  dodge  every  idea  in  the  universe  and 
talk  an  hour. 

I  see  a  farmer  the  first  three  months  of  the  year,  instead  of 
cleaning  out  his  fence  corners,  and  repairing  his  fences,  and 
turning  his  land,  and  being  just  as  energetic  and  active  in 
January  as  he  is  in  May — instead  of  that  he  is  loitering 
around  doing  nothing.  I  don't  need  any  tongue  of  the 
prophet  to  tell  how  he'll  come  out  farming.  I  have  seen  him 
down  South.  I  have  watched  him,  and  I  have  told  him  be- 
fore he  started  in  how  he  would  come  out,  too.  Said  I,  "I'll  tell 
you  what  will  happen  toyou.  You'll  buy  your  corn  from  the 
West;  you  put  in  forty  acres  to  the  old  mule,"  and,  said  I,  "be- 
fore the  year  is  out  the  grass  will  have  your  cotton,  and  the 
birds  will  have  your  wheat,  and  the  buzzards  will  have  your 
mule,  and  the  Sheriff  will  have  you,  and  that's  about  where 
you'll  wind  up."  Didn't  mean  anything — that's  the  trouble. 

DOING  one's  best. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  when  I  see  a  young  lawyer  poring 
over  his  books  day  after  day  and  night  after  night,  burning 
the  midnight  oil,  and  I  see  the  blood  fading  from  his  cheek, 
and  his  eye  growing  brighter  every  day,  I  don't  need  the 
tongueof  aprophetto  tell  you  there  will  be  one  day  a  Judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  that  there  will  be  one  day  one  of  the 
finest  lawyers  that  America  ever  produced. 

And  so  on. 


Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature.  143 

You  let  mo  watch  a  fellow  the  first  three  months  after  he 
joins  the  Church.  I  can  tell  you  whether  he  means  business 
or  not.  I  see  him  begin  to  lay  out  of  his  prayer-meetings  and 
begin  to  neglect  his  duty,  and  begin  to  think  that  he  has  got 
more  religion  than  he  wants,  and  he'll  run  the  rule  of  sub- 
traction or  division  through  it  instead  of  the  rule  of  addi- 
tion j  and  I  know  just  about  where  he'll  land.  You  are  there 
now.  When  I  see  a  man  come  into  the  Church  of  God  Al- 
mighty, and  he  feels  like,  "I'm  going  to  take  every  chance 
for  the  good  world,  I'm  going  to  get  all  the  good  out  of  every- 
thing that  comes  my  way  or  comes  within  a  mile  of  me  or 
ten  miles  of  me;  and  I  see  him  do  his  best-and  at  his  place, 
and  he  is  drawing  in  from  all  sources  in  heaven  and  earth, 
and  I  see  that  man  as  he  begins  to  move  forward  in  his 
church  and  begins  to  be  one  of  the  pillars  in  church — I  don't 
mean  p-i-1-l-o-w-s — you  have  a  great  many  of  this  sort  of  pil- 
lars in  your  churches  in  this  town,  good  old  cases  for  others 
to  crawl  in  and  lay  their  heads  on  and  go  to  sleep,  that  sort 
of  pillows!  downy  fellows  ! 

FINDING  FAULT  WITH  THE  CHURCH. 
Giving  all  diligence. 
I  will  tell  you  what  surprises  me  sometimes.  See  old 
brother  A  go  down  Monday  morning  to  his  business,  and  he 
puts  all  his  blood  and  energy  and  money  and  muscles  and 
tact  into  his  business  from  Monday  morning  until  Saturday 
night,  and  all  the  energiesof  soul  and  body  are  bent  on  push- 
ing his  business  forward;  and  he  is  taking  every  turn,  and 
using  every  means,  to  push  his  business  forward;  and  then 
comes  to  his  neglected  church  on  Sunday  morning  and  takes 
his  seat  and  sits  there  as  quiet  as  the  dead;  and  when  the 
service  is  over  ho  goes  around  into  the  study  and  says  to  the 
preacher,  "What  in  the  world's  the  matter  with  the  church  ? 
I  can't  see  to  save  my  life.  She's  not  moving  any."  And  if 
that  old  fellow  runs  his  business  three  months  like  he  does 
the  Church  the  sheriff  would  wind  him  up  and  settle  him  in 
bankruptcy.  Talk  about  a  man  running  his  business  like  we 
do  our  churches  in  this  country.  Ah,  me  1  There  is  not  a 
man  in  this  house  that  does  not  know  his  business  will  go 
into  bankruptcy  and  ruinif  he  devotes  no  more  time  to  it  than 
we  devote  to  the  Church  of  Grod. 


144  Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature. 

DISPROPORTIONATE   TALENT. 

ril  tell  you  what  I  have  got  a  contempt  for  in  the  highest 
sense — a  fellow  that  is  a  first-class  lawyer  and  a  tenth-rate 
Methodist;  he  is  the  best  lawyer  m  town,  butthe  worst  mem- 
ber of  his  Church.  Now,  sir,  that  sort  of  a  fellow  isn't  worth 
killing  in  any  country  in  heaven  or  earth.  Fll  tell  you  an- 
other fellow  that  I  have  got  a  contempt  for.  It  is  this  fel- 
low :  he  is  the  best  merchant  in  St.  Louis  and  he  is  about  a 
fifteenth-rate  Baptist.  There  is  another  fellow — the  best  doc- 
tor in  St.  Louis,  and  as  a  Presbyterian  he  is  the  deadest  failure 
in  the  town.  Now,  if  a  fellow  is  no  account  anywhere,  the 
Lord  can  sort  of'put  up  with  his  being  no  account  in  the 
Church  ;  but  if  he  is  a  first-class  anything  out  of  the  Church. 
God  wants  him  to  be  a  first-class  everything  in  the  Church 
Don't  you  see? 

Isn't  it  strange,  brethren — now  I  don't  single  out  any  class 
in  this  world  and  say  aught  against  them — but  isn't  it  strange 
how  few  really  pious  lawyers  we  have  in  this  country  ?  Isn't 
it  strange?  It  takes  less  earnest  effort  to  be  a  first-class 
Christian  than  it  does  to  be  a  first-class  lawyer,  and  I'd  rath- 
er be  one  first-class  Christian  than  to  be  every  first-class 
lawyer  in  the  universe. 

You  take  the  physicians  of  the  community.  One  of  my  old 
brethren,  a  physician  once,  he  belonged  to  my  church,  and  I 
got  after  him  about  not  coming  out;  and  he  said  that  he  tried 
his  best  to  get  there  but  he  could  not.  ^'  Well,"  said  I,  'Til 
tell  you,  old  fellow,  if  heaven  was  a  sickly  country,  I  don't 
believe  I'd  want  to  go  there."  ^' Well,"  he  said;  ^'Why?" 
''  Well,  I  am  afraid  there  are  going  to  be  very  few  doctors 
there."  I  don't  know  what  in  the  world's  the  matter,  but 
there  are  so  few  doctors  that  are  pious;  but  when  you  do 
find  one  that  is  thoroughly  pious  he  is  one  of  the  best  men 
on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

THE  CHRISTIANITY  OF  PROFESSIONAL  MEN. 

What^s  the  matter  with  our  professional  men  ?  Have  they 
grown  too  big  to  be  religious?  Have  they  grown  up  to 
where  the  Bible  is  considered  their  mother's  and  their  little 
children's  book  ?  What  is  the  matter?  Oh,  sir,  listen  to  me 
to-night.  The  grandest  lawyers  this  world  ever  produced 
were  the  men  who  loved  and  lived  by  this  blessed  book  I  am 


Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature.  145 

preaching  from  to-night.  The  best  physicians  and  the  grand- 
est in  the  science  in  which  they  worked  were  men  who  read 
this  book  and  loved  this  book,  and  when  they  came  to  die 
they  said,  "Wife,  put  the  Bible  under  my  head,  and  let  it  be 
my  blessed  pillow  upon  which  I  shall  breathe  my  last." 

I  don't  want  any  better  evidence  of  the  upstart  than  a  fel- 
low that  gets  too  big  to  like  the  Bible  ;  and  I  declare  to  you 
that  it  has  reached  the  point  in  this  country  now,  if  a  fellow 
has  much  to  say  about  the  Bible  and  the  faith  of  this  book, 
they  will  ridicule  him,  they  will  say  he  is  a  fool  that  be- 
lieved everything— they  will  that.  But,  oh,  my  brethren, 
I  am  satisfied  when  I  see  a  Newton  as  he  comes  down  from 
his  observatory,  just  now  numbering  and  counting  the  stars 
as  heswept  histelescope  across  theskies,andl  seeNewton  lay 
down  his  telescope  and  walk  down  into  his  closet  and  kneel 
down  and  pray  to  God,  and  walk  out  and  say  to  his  wife : 
^'Precious  wife,  I  get  closer  to  God  on  my  knees  in  the 
closet  than  I  was  just  now  in  my  observatory  as  I  was  count- 
ing and  numbering  the  stars. '^  The  little  fellow  had  too 
much  sense  to  believe  the  Bible.  A  big  head  in  a  man  is  a 
heap  worse  than  it  is  in  a  horse.  A  horse  will  die  in  about 
a  week;  but  the  poor  fellow  lives  on  in  the  way  of  all  the 
country,  one  of  these  know^ing  fellows. 

THE  LORD    LIKES  THEM. 

The  Lord  likes  one  of  these  fellows  who  says,  "I  don't  know 
much.''  A  man  who  drops  down  on  his  knees  every  morn- 
ing when  he  first  wakes  up  and  says,  ''  Lord  God,  go  with 
me  this  day.  I  am  poor  and  weak  and  miserable  and  ignor- 
ant and  blind.  Oh,  Lord  !  I  would  not  risk  myself  out  of 
this  room  and  out  of  my  yard  to-day  unless  you  go  with  me. 
Take  my  hand,  precious  Faiher,  and  lead  me,  because  I 
know  not  the  way."  The  Lord  likes  one  of  these  men  that 
feels  in  his  heart,  "  I  haven't  got  sense  enough  to  go  to  my 
front  gate  and  back  unless  the  God  of  heaven  will  go  with  me." 
That  is  my  sort. 

Besides  this,  giving  all  diligence,  add  unto  your  faith,  virtue. 

I  like  this  rule  of  addition.  I  want  more  and  more,  and 
still  there  is  more  to  follow.  I  want  to  be  larger  to-day, 
and  better  to-day,  and  grander  to-day  than  yesterday.  And 
the  biggest  reason  in  the  world   why  I'd  rather  live  ten 


146  Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature. 

years  longer  in  this  life  than  to  die  to-morrow — the  big- 
gest reason  after  all — is  the  fact,  that  in  the  next  ten  years, 
if  Grod  lets  me  live,  I  intend  to  eliminate  much  that  is  evil 
about  me,  and  I  intend  to  grow  and  develop  into  a  grander 
Christian  man  than  I  claim  to  be  to-night.  My  highest  wish 
for  a  longer  period  of  life  is  that,  before  the  day  of  crystal- 
lization, Grod  may  eliminate  from  me  all  that  is  evil,  and  de- 
velop me  into  all  that  is  good. 

THE    SEVEN    GRACES. 
Add  unto  your  faith,  virtue ;  und  to  virtue,  knowledge ;  and  to  knowledge 
temperance;  and  to  temperance,  patience — 

enough  to  keep  a  man  pious.     You  will  find  that  evil  here  is 
broad  and  deep  as  you  look  out. 
Add  unto  your  faith,  virtue 

You  take  these  seven  graces  before  us  to-night.  Now,  six 
thousand  years  ago  Grod  said,  "Let  there  be  light,  and  there 
was  light  'j'  but  this  world  enjoyed  its  rays  for  thousands  of 
years  before  any  philosopher  analj^zed  it  and  told  us  what 
pure,  white  light  was.  After  awhile  the  philosopher  step-> 
ped  to  the  front,  and  he  told  us  that  pure,  white,  physical 
light  was  the  symmetrical  blending  of  the  seven  primary 
colors  we  find  in  the  rainbow — red  and  white  and  orange 
and  green,  etc. 

Jesus  Christ  said  to  his  Church : 
Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world. 

They  did  not  understand  him.  But  Peter  studied  the 
question  and  stepped  forth  as  the  great  philosopher  in  spir- 
itual things,  and  tolls  us  that  pure,  white  spiritual  light  is 
the  symmetrical  blending  of  the  seven  primary  Christian 
graces — faith  and  courage  and  knowledge  and  temperance 
and  patience  and  godliness  and  brotherly  kindness  and 
charity.  These  seven  graces  will  shed  forth  a  light  that  will 
indeed  light  the  whole  world. 

ARCHITECTS  FOR  ETERNITY. 

Now,  brother,  let  us  change  the  figure  a  moment  and  look 
at  it  in  this  way:  We  are  building  for  eternity.  Every 
man  ought  to  look  well  to  the  foundation.  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  great  foundation  upon  which  we  rest  all  our  hope  and 
all  our  experience  and  all  for  time  and  eternity.  Christ  is 
the  great  bed-rock,  and  faith  in  him  as  we  build  this  spir- 


^Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature,  147 

itual  temple,  faith  in  Christ,  is  the  first  rock  put  down. 
And  we  build  this  temple  without  the  sound  of  a  hammer. 
We  build  this  temple  out  of  divine  material  and  according 
to  divine  direction,  and  the  first  rock  I  put  down — the  bed- 
rock— is  faith : 

Without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  God. 
He  that  "believeth  shall  be  saved. 

I  may  say  that  my  heart  rests  upon  this  old  book;  I  may 
say  that  I  believe  this  book;  I  may  say  that  I  inherited  ax 
faith  from  my  father  and  mother  in  this  blessed  book;  I 
may  say  that  there  is  not  a  single  utterance  of  God  that  I 
doubt  in  my  heart  to-night.  Call  me  a  dupe  and  call  me  a 
fool,  but  tell  them — when  you  tell  them  I  am  a  dupe  and  a 
fool — tell  them  I  am  a  happy  dupe  and  I  am  a  joyful  fool. 

Faith  in  my  Bible?  I  believe  this  book;  I  believe  this 
book,  and  this  book  has  blessed  thousands  of  men  before  I 
was  born,  and  the  best  men  on  whom  I  lean  every  day,  they 
whisper  back  in  my  ear,  ^'That  blessed  book  is  a  lamj)  to 
my  feet  and  a  light  unto  my  path."  This  blessed  book, 
that  never  misled  a  human  step  and  never  misdirected  a  hu- 
man life;  this  book,  with  its  moral  so  pure  and  with  its 
Christ  so  ennobling  and  elevating  to  the  race — I  believe,  I 
believe! 

RELIGIOUS    BELIEF. 

I  believe  in  God  Almighty,  maker  of  heaven  and  earth, 
and  in  Jesus  Christ,  his  only  begotten  son,  our  Lord;  I  be- 
lieve in  the  Holy  Ghost ;  in  the  Church  of  God. 

I  believe — I  believe  there  is  power  in  God,  and  virtue  in 
the  blood  of  Christ,  and  truth  in  the  Holy  Ghost;  and,  breth- 
ren, if  I  didn't  believe  this  book,  and  believe  God  was  its  auth- 
or, and  God  was  with  me,  I'd  close  this  book,  and  I'd  close  my 
mouth,  and  leave  this  town  on  the  first  train  that  left  for  my 
home.  I  believe  my  Bible;  and  when  the  Christian  people  of 
this  town  believe  this  book  we  are  going  to  take  this  book 
and  conquer  the  whole  city. 

I  believe,  I  believe  in  God,  as  he  is  the  father  of  all  men, 
preserver  of  all  life,  inspirer  of  all  that  is  good.     I  believe 
in  God.   And  now  to  this  faith  in  God  and  faith  in  the  rio-ht, 
what  is  the  next  rock  we  lay  down  ?     See  how  this  will  fit : 
Add  unto  your  faith,  virtue. 

Yirtus — courage.   Now,  don't  you  see  that  if  a  man  believes 

10 


148  Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature. 

he  is  right  the  very  next  thing  he  wants  is  a  courage  that 
dares  to  do  right  and  dares  to  be  tru6.  I  want  to  say  at  this 
point  that  I  am  not  talking  about  physical  courage.  I  am 
afraid  that  Christian  people  are  sometimes  physical  cow- 
ards. I  do  not  want  a  man  to  be  a  physical  coward;  but 
above  all  things,  deliver  me  from  a  moral  coward.  I  want 
to  tell  you  that  I  have  searched  this  book  from  Genesis  to 
Kevelations  and  I  find  that  God  never  did  choose  a  man  to 
do  a  great  work  for  him  but  that  that  man  was  game  from 
head  to  foot.     God  despises  a  coward. 

MORAL  COURAGE. 

Moral  courage !  Physical  courage  is  not  much.  Physical 
courage  will  march  me  right  up  into  the  blazing  mouth  of  a 
cannon  without  shaking  a  muscle  in  my  body,  but  that  is  not 
much.  I  have  known  generals  and  colonels  and  majors  and 
captains  and  privates  in  this  last  war  that  never  had  a  mus- 
cle quiver  in  front  of  a  cannon.  Yet  these  men,  after  com- 
ing home  from  the  war,  would  quake  and  wince  and  whine 
in  the  presence  of  public  opinion.  Afraid  of  that!  Afraid 
of  that! 

And  I  will  tell  you  another  thing :  a  fellow  needs  courage. 
There  are  a  great  many  things  in  this  world  that  stand  look- 
ing a  fellow  in  the  face  and  shake  their  fist  at  him,  and  if  he 
ain't  got  the  grit  he  will  run,  no  doubt  about  it.  And  I  say 
to-night,  every  man  that  walks  out  before  this  world  and 
would  make  it  purer  and  better,  that  man  shall,  like  his 
Lord,  have  his  Getbsemane,  and  his  Pilate's  bar,  and  his 
Judas  Iscariot,  and  his  Simon  Peter,  and  his  cross. 

I  tell  you  another  thing.  I  would  ratherface  every  cannon 
in  America  to-night  as  far  as  I  am  personally  concerned,  than 
face  the  opinion  of  the  elite  society  of  St.  Louis.  The  hollow, 
miserable,  heartless,  godless  old  wretch  that  society  is!  Why, 
you  can  get  on  the  street  cars  of  this  town,  so  I  have  been 
told,  that  are  filled  with  theater-going,  dancing,  godless 
members  of  the  Church,  and  Sam  Jones  is  their  text  from 
the  time  you  step  on  until  you  step  off. 

Some  say  he  is  a  brute.  Some  say  he  is  as  ignorant  as  a 
Southern  plantation  darkey.  Some  say  he  is  a  vicious  man. 
Some  say  one  thing,  and  some  another  thing  ;  and  they  shell 
the  woods  for  a  fellow.     It  is  like  the  barking  of  a  "fise" 


Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature.  149 

dog  after  a  fast  train — you  can  hear  the  little  fellow  bark, 
but  you  cannot  see  him. 

Right  is  right,  and  stand  to  it,  and  when  the  last  storm  of 
passion  has  swept  over,  God  is  with  you.  That  is  more  than 
can  be  against  you,  and  that  is  all  that  you  need.  You  at- 
tack the  ball-rooms  in  this  town,  and  every  dancing,  worldly 
member  of  the  church,  and  sinner,  too,  turns  his  guns  right 
loose  upon  you. 

PERSONAL   TO    SAM   JONES. 

And  I  will  tell  you  ^mother  thing.  I  want  to  say  this  to 
encourage  you — good  Christian  brethren  that  need  just  a  lit- 
tle more  backbone  :  when  they  tell  you  Jones  is  low-bred, 
donH  you  believe  them,  for  it  is  a  lie  ! 

When  they  tell  you  that  Jones  is  ignorant,  you  tell  them 
that  won't  do;  that  Jones  will  go  into  a  class  with  any  of 
them  to-morrow,  and  let  a  professor  examine  on  any  sub- 
ject.    What  do  you  say  to  that? 

And  when  they  tell  you  that  Jones  came  from  bad  stock, 
you  tell  them  that  a  purer,  nobler  woman  God  never  made 
than  my  mother,  and  that  a  better,  purer  man  God  never  let 
live  than  my  precious  father.  lam  from  as  good  stock  as 
God  ever  made. 

I  want  to  tell  you  right  now  that  I  never  was  in  society.  I 
reckon  that  one  reason  for  this  is  that  I  have  been  poor  all 
my  life,  and  they  would  have  objected  to  me  on  that  account. 
They  would  never  have  let  me  in,  anyhow.  They  would 
have  known  that  I  would  have  told  on  them,  and  they  don't 
want  any  tales  told  out  of  school.  I  have  found  that  out.  But 
I  did  not  mean  to  say  anything  about  society  now.  We  shall 
take  that  up  later.  We  will  shake  it,  til]  it  is  ready  to  be 
turned  laose  when  we  get  through  with  it. 

There  are  things  in  your  city  day  after  day,  and  night  af- 
ter night,  that  are  enough  to  make  a  thousand  mothers  and 
fathers  in  this  town  call  a  halt,  and  say:  *'You  had  better 
stop  right  here.  This  thing  has  gone  far  enough."  I  tell 
you,  mothers  and  fathers,  if  jou  will  open  your  eyes  and 
look  around  you  a  little,  you  will  call,  "Halt!  halt!  halt!  I 
will  s-hoot  you  down  if  you  take  another  step."  And  when 
a  man  begins  to  talk  about  these  things  I  know  how  little 
Miss  Finnioky  and  old  brother  Finnicky  and  the  whole  dev- 
il's crowd  will  sit  upon  him.     I  have  been  around  before. 


150  Fartakers  of  the  Divine  Nature. 

PREACHING   LIKE    HIS    MASTER. 

Courage!  courage!  Jesus  Christ,  the  great  exemplar  in 
Christianity^  he  j)reachcd  his  own  gosj)el,  and  when  he  did, 
do  you  recollect  that  on  one  occasion  a  vast  multitude  turn- 
ed their  backs  on  him  and  walked  off  in  disgust;  and  Jesus 
turned  to  his  disciples  and  said  l  ''Will  ye  also  go  away?^' 
And  Simon  Peter  said:  ''Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go?  For 
thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life."  I  do  not  believe  I  ever 
preached  the  gospel  as  plainly  as  my  Master  preach (?d  it; 
for  I  have  never  had  a  congregation  to  "rush  out^'  on  me, 
and  if  ever  I  preach  to  a  St.  Louis  congregation  and  see  the 
people  jump  up  and  run  out  of  the  house,  I  will  jump  up  too, 
and  holler,  ''  Glory  to  God !  I  am  preaching  like  my  Mas- 
ter now."  But  that  would  not  be  any  joke  on  me.  Every- 
where I  have  ever  worked,  God  bless  you,  they  would  say 
you  people  in  St.  Louis  were  so  mean  you  would  not  hear 
Sam  Jones.  They  would  brag  on  mo  and  cuss  you.  That  is 
about  the  way  the  thing  would  go. 

Courage  that  dares  to  be  right  and  dares  to  be  true.  If  a 
thing  is  wrong,  fight  it !  fight  it !  If  it  is  right,  stand  up  for 
it,  if  every  man  on  earth  is  against  you.  Stand  and  fight, 
and  fight,  and  fight,  and  when  you  go  down  and  think  3^ou 
are  alone,  1  tell  you  that  when  the  din  and  smoke  of  the  bat- 
tle have  blown  away  and  you  open  your  eyes  you  will  find 
God  and  the  angels  and  good  men  standing  around  you. 

Courage,  brother !  ISTow  what  does  this  mean  ?  One  time 
Peter's  courage  failed  him ;  and  of  all  the  times  in  the  world 
it  was  the  time  that  Peter's  courage  ought  to  have  held 
good.  Yonder  his  Lord,  defenceless  and  alone,  given  over 
to  his  enemies,  stood  before  that  cruel  crowd,  and  they  spat 
upon  him,  and  buffeted  him,  and  plaited  a  crown  of  thorns, 
and  pressed  it  on  his  temple  until  the  blood  ran  down  his 
cheeks.  And  Peter  stood  there  looking  at  it,  no  doubt,  un- 
til his  very  blood  boiled.  And  there  was  the  Son  of  God 
and  the  Son  of  Man  without  a  friend  in  the  world  he  came 
to  redeem.  There  Peter  stood  out  in  the  distance,  and  when 
the  fatal  moment  came  the  people  approached  him  and  said: 
"You  are  one  of  his  disciples;"  and  Peter  answered:  "^N'o, 
I  am  not  one  of  his  disciples."  And  then  again  they  ap- 
proached him  and  said  :  "You  are  one  of  his  disciples."  He 
said :  "]S"o,  I  am  not  one  of  his  disciples."     And,  again,  a  lit- 


Partakers  of  the  Divine  J^ature, 


151 


tie  girl  approached  him  and  said:  ^'You  are  one  of  his  dis- 
ciples;" and  Peter  cursed  and  swore  with  an  oath,  and 
said  :  "I  do  not  know  him." 


The  Fallen  Christian  Knight 
Brother,  I  do  not  object  to  the  way  G-od's  word  is  written, 
but  I  have  wished  a  thousand  times  that  when  my  Master 
stood  there,  without  a  friend  in  the  world,  and  they  ap- 
proached Peter,  I  have  wished  that  Peter  had  rushed  up  by 
the  Son  of  God  and  said,  ''I  am  one  of  his  disciples  and  J 
will  PIE  by  his  side."  If  he  had  don©  that  I  believe  that  God 


162  Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature. 

would  have  rushed  every  angel  in  heaven  down  to  Peter's 
side  and  not  have  suffered  a  hair  of  his  head  to  be  touched. 
And  we  have  forsaken  our  Master  when  he  did  not  have  a 
friend  in  the  world  ! 

Courage  !  courage  !  I  tell  you  this  sickly  sentimentalism 
that  we  have  that  God's  people  are  a  peaceful,  quiet  and  get- 
out-thc-deviTs-way  sort  of  people,  is  a  mistake.  Down  in 
my  State  I  have  been  preaching  prohibition,  and  in  Georgia 
1  have  gone  into  those  counties  where  prohibition  was  being 
fought  the  hardest,  and  said  :  "  Brethren  of  the  Church,  take 
a  stand  and  hold  it.  Do  not  let  a  barkeeper  that  has  not 
got  more  than  three  gallons  of  whisky,  and  that  bought  on 
credit,  come  out  on  the  square  on  election  day  with  an  old, 
rusty  pistol  in  his  hand  that  hasn't  been  loaded  since  the 
war,  and  curse  two  or  three  times  and  talk  loud  and  run 
every  member  of  the  Church  out  of  town.  God  have  mercy 
on  you  pusillanimous  wretches;"  said  I.  "Hold  your 
ground,  and  tell  them  that  if  they  can  die  for  their  infernal 
traffic  you  can  die  for  those  precious  children."  And  I  said, 
"Go  on,  and  God's  approval  will  rest  with  you." 

THE  POWER  OF  COURAGE. 

There  was  a  day  when  one  of  God's  armies  was  battling 
with  the  enemies  of  God.  Joshua,  the  commander,  was  fight- 
ing with  all  the  ransomed  powers  at  his  back,  and  the  enemy 
was  being  beaten  down  in  front  of  the  ranks  of  God's  hosts. 
But  Joshua  looked  up  and  saw  that  the  sun  was  going  down, 
and  he  looked  up  and  said  :  "  Oh  God,  if  you  will  give  me 
two  or  three  hours  more  of  sunshine,  I'll  put  this  army  to 
flight,  and  will  win  a  victory  that  shall  make  thine  armies 
famous  forever."  And  God  turned  and  told  the  sun,  "Stand 
still !  and  "  don't  you  move  an  inch  until  Joshua  routes  this 
army  root  and  branch  and  sweeps  it  almost  from  the  face 
of  the  earth."  And  I  tell  you  God  will  make  the  sun  stand 
still  in  the  heavens  and  the  moon  not  move  in  the  Valley  of 
Ajalon,  if  God's  people  ever  have  the  courage  to  stand  up, 
and  dare  to  be  right  and  dare  to  be  true. 

Well,  what  if  you  do  get  killed  in  the  fight?  It  is  just  a 
nigh  cut  to  heaven  if  you  are  all  right.  Don't  jom  see?  Get- 
ting scared  and  running  from  heaven  !  What  do  you  think 
of  that?     Well,  I  never  made  much  of  a  practice  of  being 


Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature,  153 

afraid  of  folks  before  I  had  religion,  and  thank  God  I  am 
not  now  afraid  of  the  universe,  if  I  am  in  the  right.  Some- 
times I  am  afraid  I  ain^t  exactly  right;  but  if  God  says  *'Go 
it,"  I  know  I  am  not  afraid. 

Courage  that  dares  to  do  right.  Add  to  your  faith  the 
courage  of  your  convictions.  Sol  have  told  them  all  over 
the  country — these  cotton-string  back-bone  fellows  in  the 
Church  of  God,  with  a  little  old  slack-twisted  cotton  string 
run  up  the  back,  and  two  or  three  ribs  knit  to  it  on  one  side, 
who  call  themselves  Christians  —  you  know.  God  bless 
you,  I  want  to  be  about  95  per  cent,  backbone.  That  makes 
good  proportion  for  a  man  that  proposes  to  do  anything. 

Afraid  !  afraid  !  afraid  !  Afraid  of  nothing  but  the  wrong. 
I  will  do  the  right  and  trust  in  God.  I  will  stand  up  for  the 
right  and  do  the  right. 

And  to  courage  add  knowledge;  and  to  knowledge,  temperance;  and  to 
temperance,  patience. 

CONCLUDING  WORDS. 

I  wish  I  had  time  to  run  over  all  these  words,  but  my  hour 
is  out,  and  I  will  just  close  with  this  last  thought: 

And  to  godliness  brotherly  kindness;  and  to  brotherly  kindness  charity. 

Now,  as  the  first  rock,  we  lay  down  faith  in  God.  The  next 
rock  is  courage  that  dares  to  execute  what  we  know  is  right. 
The  next  rock  is  knowledge.  You  want  to  know  how  to  do 
it.  The  next  is  temperance;  you  want  a  regulating  force. 
And  the  next  is  patience  toward  God  and  all  mankind.  The 
next  is  godliness.  The  next  brotherly  kindness.  And  then 
charity,  the  keystone  we  drop  into  the  arch.  And  the  build- 
ing is  finished,  and  God  stoops  down  and  puts  one  hand  un- 
der it,  and  the  other  on  the  top,  and  transplants  that  man- 
sion to  the  beautiful  streets  of  the  city  of  God.  And  there 
is  my  ''house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.'' 

God  help  us  to  build  on  that  platform,  and  build  upon  that 
line,  and  by-and-by  we  shall  be  transplanted  to  our  eternal 
home.  The  fact  is,  that  when  you  begin  right  and  go  on 
right  your  house  is  not  really  moved.  God  just  runs  the 
streets  of  the  new  Jerusalem  right  along  in  front  of  where 
you  build,  and  your  house  is  forever  on  the  streets  of  the 
city  of  God,  and  it  is  there  to  stay  forever  and  ever,  God 
bless  you  all  I 


154  Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature. 

And  now  I  want  every  man  in  this  house — earnest  brother 
hear  me — every  man  that  would  build  on  this  pattern  as  a 
Christian  man,  whether  you  are  in  the  church  or  not,  will 
you  conscientiously  stand  up  with  me  and  say:  ^'Sir,  I  tell 
you  in  response  to  the  truth  you  have  preached,  I  want  to 
build  on  that  pattern,  and,  God  helping  me,  I  will  do  it." 
Now,  every  person  here  that  feels  that  way,  stand  up.  Let 
\is  see  how  many  men  would  build  upon  that  platform. 

[All  in  the  hall  rose.] 


^Ef^MON  VIII. 

Y/iKINQ    THE    'J^ORT. 


fHis  service,  brethren,  is  rather  an  unusual  service  in 
the  city — Saturday  night  service — and  we  wind  up  the 
business  of  this  week.  And  we'll  wind  up  life  after  awhile. 
What  will  we  be  then  ?  Oh,  to  be  a  grand,  a  pure,  a  noble 
man,  is  the  assurance,  and  the  only  assurance,  that  we'll  be 
happy  and  pure  and  noble  forever.  I  am  very  anxious  in- 
deed to  see  us  not  only  right  ourselves,  but  I  am  so  anxious 
to  see  the  sinners  of  this  town  saved.  "When  all  the  church 
members  get  right — if  such  a  consummation  could  be 
brought  about — then  we  have  only  prepared  ourselves  to  do 
the  work  God  wants  us  to  do. 

I  will  tell  you  how  I  feel  about  it.  I  have  been  feeling  a 
good  deal  since  I  have  been  here.  I  have  pulled,  and  pulled, 
and  pulled  at  difPerent  times  in  different  places  in  my  life  ; 
and  here  I  have  pulled  and  pulled.  Sometimes  it  looked 
like  all  the  world  was  a  load  and  I  was  pulling.  •  And, 
brethren,  I  have  reached  the  point  now  where  you  ought  to 
pull  some  and  you  ought  to  push  some.  I  will  tell  you  what 
is  true:  if  God  Almighty  had  blessed,  me  with  the  money 
that  some  of  3'ou  have — and  you  may  not  have  a  great  deal — 
if  God  Almighty  had  blessed  me  with  such  a  home  as  some 
of  you  have,  and  with  so  many  blessings  as  he  has  blessed 
you,  I'd  put  in  the  nextweek  for  him  as  no  Christian  in  this 
town  ever  put  in  a  week  for  God. 

TOO   FOND    or   NICKELS. 

We'll  never  do  anything  with  this  town,  with  this  city, 
when  the  Christian  world  looks  like  you  can  just  take  nick- 
els and  scatter  them  along,  one  every  ten  feet,  and  tote  them 
right  into  hell  with  them.  We'll  never  do  anything  with 
this  world — never!  Three  thousand  people  out  at  night, 
five  hundred  out  in  daytime.  What's  the  difference  ?  No 
156 


156  Taking  the  Fort. 

nickels  at  night  to  be  gathered  up  around,  as  they  are  in  the 
daytime.  '^  I  believe  I'll  gather  nickels  and  let  souls  go  to 
hell" — that's  about  the  schedule  they  run. 

I  will  tell  you  another  thing :  you  need  not  say  I  am  a 
fool — and  all  that  sort  of  thing.  I've  got  a  wife  and  I've 
got  children  to  support,  just  like  you  have,  and  I  love  my 
wife  and  children  just  as  jou  do  ;  but  I  tell  you  one  thing: 
here  is  one  man  that  is  going  to  do  his  duty  every  day  to 
God  and  the  right,  and  if  me  and  my  wife  and  children 
starve  to  death,  we'll  make  out  like  we  died  with  typhoid 
fever;  we'll  not  say  one  word  about  it  in  any  way,  shape  or 
form.  But  I  want  to  see  one  man  starve  that  is  doing  his 
duty. 

And  we'll  never  take  this  town  for  Christ,  and  you  down 
town  at  your  business  every  hour  of  the  day,  and  when  night 
comes,  pin  on  the  pinions  of  an  old  owl,  and  flap  out  and 
come  to  meeting.     We  won't  do  it ! 

YES,  THEY  WOULD  BE. 

Grod  Almighty  sent  this  very  work  along  here  in  St.  Louis 
to  prepare  some  of  you  members  of  the  church  for  your  cof- 
fins, and  to  prepare  many  a  sinner  in  this  town  for  eternity. 
And  if  an  angel  were  to  alight  on  this  stand  this  moment 
and  say,  ^'  Ten  Methodists  in  this  town  will  be  in  their  cof- 
fins next  Saturday  night,"  ah,  rae  I — without  mentioning  any 
names — I'll  tell  you  that  every  soul  in  this  house  to-night 
would  be  here  every  time  this  bell  rang.  You  are  going  to 
die  next  Saturday  night.  I  don't  know  whether  it  is  me  or 
somebody  else,  but  there's  ten  of  us,  and  may  be  fifty  of  you, 
will  be  in  your  cofiins  next  Saturday  night. 

We  have  no  time  to  throw  away  in  this  work.  One-third 
of  my  time  is  gone  now.  I  have  no  time  or  disposition  to 
come  here  and  camp  with  you  all  through  the  winter — three 
or  four  or  six  months.  I  expect  to  be  away  from  here,  and 
before  the  first  day  of  February  I  expect  to  see  thousands  of 
souls  converted  in  another  city.  I  expect  to ;  verily  I  do.  I 
have  no  time  to  fool  away  with  you  all.  If  you  want  me  and 
say  so,  I  am  your  man,  under  G-od  ;  but  if  you  don't,  I  want 
you  to  say  so.  I  will  take  the  first  train  that  leaves  this 
town  on  Monday  morning. 

You  ain't  in  earnest.     You  don't  mean  anything.      I  can 


Taking  the  Fort.  157 

buy  out  joviY  interest  in  this  meeting  for  a  quarter,  and  I  ex- 
pect a  great  many  of  you  havenH  made  a  quarter  each  day 
while  we  were  here  serving  and  praying  and  working  the 
best  way  we  could. 

A  DEARTH  OF  GOOD  WOMEN. 

I  believe  it's  the  first  meeting  I  ever  run  in  my  life  when 
there  were  more  men  out  at  any  service  than  women  ;  and  I 
tell  you  when  it  gets  so  good  women  in  a  city  are  scarce, 
things  are  getting  mighty  bad,  they  are,  sure's  you're  born. 

There  ain't  any  doubt  about  that.  Tve  seen  a  few  towns 
where  good  men  were  scarce,  but  I  believe  you've  got  less 
earnest  Christian  women  in  this  town  than  any  town  I  have 
ever  known  of  its  size.     What  do  you  think  about  that? 

Now,  there  is  no  use  in  quibbling  over  the  matter  at  all, 
brethren.  If  St.  Joseph  can  rush  up  under  a  tent  four  times 
a  day,  and  turn  everything  loose — and  God  has  blessed  that 
town  as  I  scarcely  know  God  has  ever  blessed  a  town  in  the 
United  States  of  America  of  its  size,  almost  literally  redeem- 
ed St.  Joseph,  Mo.  — you  can.  How  came  that  ?  The  people 
got  interested  and  took  stock  ;  don't  you  see  !  That  was  all. 
Now,  how  may  we  obtain  just  such  a  blessing?  By  getting 
interested  and  taking  stock. 

ST.  LOUIS  AS  A  TOMB  FOR  EVANGELISTS. 

I  will  tell  you  how  I  feel  about  it.  I  can  afford  to  fail. 
Christ  could  afford  to  fail  in  some  places,  for  in  some  places 
he  didn't  do  many  wonderful  works.  What  paper  is  it — the 
Catholic  paper  in  your  city — that  that  article  was  in  to-day 
that  you  spoke  of  about  burjnng  Sam  Jones? 

Bro.  Small.     Yes,  the  Western  Watchman. 

Bro.  Jones.  The  Western  Watchman  ssijs :  "Jones  has  come 
here  to  be  buried."  It  says:  "We  buried  Moody  here,  and 
he  has  never  done  anything  since ;  and  we  buried  Harrison 
here,  and  he  has  never  done  anything  since."  I  believe  that 
is  about  the  sense  of  the  article.  "  And  Jones  has  come  to  St. 
Louis  to  be  buried."  Yes,  I  will  be  the  livest  man  that  was 
ever  buried  in  this  community.  You'll  never  bury  Jones — 
I'll  say  that  to  you.  My  faith  in  God,  and  faith  in  the  right, 
and  faith  in  the  cross  of  Christ,  will  be  as  strong  when  I  leave 
this  city  if  not  asingle  soul  is  blessed,  asitshall  beifonehun- 
dred  thousand  are  blessed.    My  faith  in  God  Almighty  don't 


158  Taking  the  Fort. 

depend  upon  what  the  Christian  people  in  St.  Louis  will  or 
willnotdo.  I  have  no  notion  of  going  into  my  grave  till  I  die, 
and  then  I  will  go  in  as  gracefully  and  as  dignified  as  a  man 
ever  didj  but  I  will  never  be  graceful  or  dignified  until  I  do 
die.     That's  just  the  way  I  feel  about  it. 

Well,  now,  I  don't  like  to  call  up  the  memories  ofthe  war, 
not  at  all;  and  if  there  is  any  section  in  all  America  that  the 
war  question  brings  up  sad  memories  in,  it  is  here  and  in 
Missouri.  I  would  not  lift  the  mantle  and  veil  of  charity  from 
a  single  scar  that  was  left  by  the  war.     Not  that. 

A  BATTLE  STORY. 

But  let  me  tell  you  a  little  war  incident.  I  do  not  care 
which  side  you  were  on.  You  admire  a  brave  man,  to  which- 
ever side  he  belonged.  I  do.  I  love  a  brave  man  to-day, 
whether  he  wore  the  blue  or  the  gray.  I  like  a  brave  man, 
for  me  or  against  me.  I  despise  a  coward  in  blue  or  gray. 
When  Johnston  turned  over  his  army  to  Hood  in  Atlanta — 
Joe  Johnston  that  carried  his  army  on,  back  and  back,  re- 
treating before  Sherman  until  he  reached  Atlanta  —  there 
Johnston  turned  over  his  army  to  Hood.  Hood  was  a  gallant 
man  and  a  brave  man.  He  had  already  lost  one  of  his  legs  in 
battle,  and  when  he  took  charge  of  Johnston's  army  became 
round  back  into  Tennessee  with  it,  and,  you  recollect,  fought 
the  bloody  battle  of  Franklin,  perhaps  one  of  the  most 
bloody  battles  ofthe  war.  When  that  battle  was  waging  hot 
and  thick.  Gen.  Hood's  tent  was  on  a  prominence,  and  from 
that  prominence  Gen.  Hood,  in  walking  up  and  down  in 
front  of  his  tent,  could  seethe  battle.  He  could  see  lines 
and  he  could  hear  the  booming  ofthe  cannon  and  the  rattle 
ofthe  musketry.  And  as  he  walked  up  and  down  in  front 
ofthe  tent,  halting  with  his  artificial  leg,  qyqtj  time  ho 
turned  his  eyes  downward  towards  the  lines  he  saw  that 
there  was  a  fort  out  in  a  locust  grove  that  was  literally 
hewing  down  his  ranks  by  the  hundred.  E-very  time  he 
walked  up  and  down  in  front  of  his  tent,  limping  as  he  walk- 
ed and  every  time  he  turned  his  face  towards  the  lines  he  saw 
that  that  fort  in  the  locust  grove  was  literally  hewing  down 
his  ranks.  After  he  had  watched  the  fight  awhile  he  called 
his  Adjutant  General  to  him.  That  officer  rode  up  on  his 
bloody  horse,  and  Gen.  Hood  said  :    *' Adjutant,  go  and  pro- 


Taking  the  Fort.  159 

sent  my  compliments  to  Gen.  Cheatham,  and  tell  him  that  I 
ask  at  his  hands  that  fort  in  the  locust  grove."  The  Adju- 
tant General  loped  off  with  all  the  speed  of  his  horse.  In  a 
few  minutes  he  returned  and  said  :  Gen.  Hood,  Gen.  Cheat- 
ham is  missing.  They  think  he  has  been  killed.  He  has  not 
been  seen  in  two  hours."  Gen.  Hood  drooped  his  head,  and 
marched  up  and  down  in  front  of  his  tent,  and  every  time  he 
turned  his  face  to  the  lines,  that  fort  in  the  locust  grove  was 
literally  hewing  down  his  ranks  to  the  ground.  And  direct- 
ly he  called  his  Adjutant  General  again,  and  he  said  :  ''  Ad- 
jutant General,  go  and  present  my  compliments  to  Gen.  Claib- 
orne, and  tell  bim  I  ask  at  his  hands  the  fort  in  the  locust 
grove."  The  Adjutant  General  loped  off  down  the  lines  and 
in  a  few  moments  came  back  and  said  :  "  Gen.  Hood,  Gen. 
Claiborne  is  dead  on  the  battle-field." 

CALLING   ON  COCKRELL. 

Gen.  Hood  dropped  his  head,  and  the  tears  ran  down  his 
cheeks  as  he  marched  up  and  down  in  front  of  his  tent.  He 
looked  through  the  tears  as  they  glistened  in  his  eyes  and 
saw  that  the  fort  in  the  locust  grove  was  still  hewing  his 
ranks  to  the  ground.  And  directly  he  called  his  Adjutant 
General  again,  and  he  said  :  ^'Adjutant  General,  go  and  pre- 
sent my  love  " — he  is  softening  down  now,  no  longer  compli- 
ments— "Adjutant  General, go  and  present  my  love  to  Gen. 
Cockrell  and  tell  him  I  ask  at  his  hands  that  fort  in  the  lo- 
cust grove."  The  Adjutant  General  loped  off  down  the 
line,  and  rode  up  to  Gen.  Cockrell — I  believe  he  is,  perhaps, 
from  your  city  or  State — one  of  the  youngest  Generals  in 
the  Southern  army.  The  Adjutant  General  rode  up  to  him 
and  said:  "Gen.  Cockrell,  Gen.  Hood  sends  you  his  love, 
and  says  he  asks  at  your  hands  that  fort  in  the  locust  grove." 
Gen.  Cockrell  straightened  himself  up  in  his  saddle,  and 
said:  "1st  Missouri  Brigade,  attention  ! "  And  he  dropped 
his  fingers  on  that  fort.  They  charged  upon  the  fort  with 
intrepid  courage  and  captured  it,  and  Gen.  Cockrell  called 
his  Adjutant  General  and  said:  "Adjutant  General,  go  and 
present  my  love  to  Gen.  Hood,  and  also  tell  him  that  I  pre- 
sent him  the  fort  in  the  locust  grove." 

And  I  want  to  tell  you  Christian  people  here  to-night, 
whether  that  incident  be  true  or  not,  it  illustrates  what  I  de- 


160  Taking  the  Fort. 

sire  to  say  to  you.  I  am  here  as  the  adjutant  general  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  I  say  to  you  Christian  people,  as  1 
point  over  this  wicked  city,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  pre- 
sents his  love  to  you  Christian  people,  and  he  v\rants  at  your 
hands  every  fort  of  sin  in  this  community,  and  in  less  than 
thirty  days  I  hope  you  all  with  one  accord  will  say,  *'Lord 
Jesus,  we  present  our  love  to  you,  and  we  also  present  the 
city  redeemed  by  thy  grace." 

THE  EXHORTATION. 

I  want  every  Christian  man  that  is  ready  to  march  out  into 
line,  not  to  fight  his  fellow-man,  but  to  bring  his  neighbor 
and  friends  to  Grod  and  do  what  he  can  for  the  race.  This 
coming  week  I  will  do  my  best,  and  I  want  every  Christian 
in  this  house,  of  every  denomination,  who  feels  like  saying: 
''God  is  my  helper;  I  will  go  into  the  fight,  and  pray  and 
work  and  do  my  best;''  I  want  every  such  an  one  to  stand 
up;  and  I  hope  you  will  all  stand  up  immediately  and  say: 
"That  is  my  honest  conviction.  I  want  to  go  into  the  fight. 
I  want  to  do  my  best." 

[All  in  the  church  rose  to  their  feet.] 

Well,  thank  God  for  this  Saturday  night  meeting.  God 
bless  this  service  to  the  good  of  every  Christian  here.  Now, 
we  say  to  you  all,  we  want  the  battle  to  begin  now;  we  want 
the  battle  to  be  pushed  on  now,  and  to-morrow  morning,  at 
10:30  o'clock,  I  am  to  preach  here;  at  3  o'clock  sharp  to 
men  only,  in  the  Music  Hall,  and  Lord  God  help  to  take 
"that  fort  in  the  locust  grove"  to-morrow  afternoon.  If 
you  good  women  will  pray  as  you  ought,  you  will  hear  of 
such  a  meeting  as  St.  Louis  never  had  before.  God  give  us 
power,  and  I  want  to  tell  you  that  nothing  but  the  power  of 
God  can  ever  reach  this  city.  IS'othing  but  the  power  of 
God.  God  Almighty  docs  not  ask  any  more  odds  in  St. 
Louis,  if  you  take  hold  right,  than  he  does  in  the  smallest 
town  in  the  State.  He  is  an  omnipotent  God,  and  can  do  all 
he  undertakes.  Now  we  are  going  to  sing  "Hold  the  Fort, 
for  I  am  Coming."  I  want  everybody  to  join  in  that  song, 
and  afterwards  we  will  pronounce  the  benediction. 


^EI^MON  IX. 
JI!ojm3CI£:nc£: — I^ecoi^d — <^od. 

[To  Men  Only.l 

What  I  have  written,  I  have  written. — John  19  ;  22. 

MOW,  brethren,  let  us  all  be  prayerful.  Let  every  man 
that  believes  God  hears  and  ansvrers  prayer  lift  his 
heart  continually  in  prayer  to  Grod,  while  I  try  to  teach  in 
the  name  of  my  Master.  I  want  to  read  to  you  three  or  four 
verses  in  different  parts  of  this  book — the  Bible.  Let  us  give 
especial  attention  to  them,  because  they  have  much  to  do 
with  the  discussion  that  follows. 

Eejoice,  O  3' oung  man,  in  thy  j^outh  ;  let  thy  heart  cheer  thee  in  the  days 
of  thy  youth,  and  walk  in  the  ways  of  thine  heart  and  in  the  sight  of  thine  eyes; 
but  know  thou  that  for  all  these  things  God  will  bring  thee  unto  judgment. — 
ECCLESIASTES  11 ;  9. 

Let  us  hear  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter: 

Fear  God  and  keep  his  commandments,  for  this  is  the  whole  duty  of  man, 
— ECCLESIASTES  12  ;  13. 

And  then  we  read  again  : 

So  that  every  one  of  us  shall  give  an  account  of  himself  to  God. 
And  then  again  we  read  : 

And  the  books  were  opened,  and  then  another  book. 
And  now  we  come  to  the  text: 

What  I  have  written,  I  have  written. 

AN  IMPERISHABLE  RECORD. 

There  are  two  ^'  somethings"  and  one  "  some  one"  that  I 
had  to  do  with  yesterday.  I  have  to  do  with  them  to-day. 
I  shall  have  to  do  with  them  forever.  ''Conscience"  and 
"record"  are  the  two  somethings  ,and  God  is  the  some  one. 
Conscience — Record — God.  Conscience  and  record  are  like 
two  index  fingers  pointing  right  up  into  the  face  of  God,  and 
God  is  the  great  index  finger  pointing  to  the  final  judg- 
ment. Conscience — that  something  running  over  my  life 
proving  the  right,  disproving  the  wrong.  Conscience  when 
161 


162  Conscience — Record — God, 

outraged  is  that  something  that  will  not  let  me  sleep,  no 
matter  how  soft  my  pillow.  Conscience — that  something 
that  will  not  let  me  eat,  no  matter  how  richly  laden  the  table 
may  be.  Conscience — that  something  in  me  that  makes  me 
drop  my  head  in  guilt  and  shame  before  the  world.  Con- 
science— where  is  the  man  in  this  audience  who  never  felt 
the  pangs  and  pains  of  outraged  conscience.  The  poet  was 
right  when  he  said  : 

What  conscience  dictates  to  be  done, 
Or  warns  me  not  to  do, 

This,  teach  me  more  than  hell  to  shun, 
That,  more  than  heaven  pursue. 

And  I  am  right  in  saying  upon  this  occasion  that  the  most 
fearful  sin  a  man  ever  committed  in  this  life  is  to  sin  directly 
and  to  sin  persistently  against  his  own  conscience.  Do  you 
do  that  thing  which  consciencesays  thououghtest  notto  do? 
Do  you  not  do  that  thing  which  conscience  says  thou  ought- 
est  to  do  ?  Do  you  persist  in  the  evil  when  conscience  cries, 
"Stop!  hold!  murder!  murder!  don't  do  it?''  Conscience 
— ah,  me,  brother!  some  one  has  said  that  an  outraged 
conscience  is  the  worm  that  shall  never  die  amid  the  fires 
that  shall  never  be  quenched. 

Conscience!  Conscience!  Record!  Record!  My  record  is 
as  much  a  part  of  me  as  my  immortal  being  is  a  part  of  me. 
"Yes,''  but  you  say,  "the  surgeon's  knife  can  soon  separate 
that  hand  from  me."  ]^o,  sir.  No,  sir!  Some  months  ago  I 
sat  by  the  side  of  a  man  who  had  an  empty  sleeve  dangling 
at  his  side.  All  at  once  he  turned  to  me  and  said:  "These 
fingers  have  been  hurting  me  all  day."  Said  I:  "What fin- 
gers?" He  replied  :  "The  fingers  of  my  right  hand."  Said 
I:  "My  friend,  there  is  no  right  hand  there."  He  returned: 
"They  tell  me  this  arm  is  buried  on  the  battle  fields  of  Vir- 
ginia, but,  sir,  that  hand  is  as  truly  there  to-day  as  it  ever 
was,  and  the  pains  and  the  twinges  and  the  pangs  of  this 
hour  are  almost  intolerable  to  me  in  those  fingers." 

SUBJECT  AND  RECORD  INSEPARABLE. 

My  record  is  a  part  of  me.  It  belongs  to  me.  It  is  in- 
separable from  me.  My  record  as  a  man  ;  your  record  as  a 
man.  A  man  without  a  record  would  be  an  anomaly.  A 
man  without  a  record  would  be  a  moral  monstrosity  in  the 
universe  of  God.    What  I  have  said,  what  I  have   done, 


Conscience — Record —  God,  163 

where  I  have  been,  are  but  so  many  subjects  discussed  upon 
this  record  of  the  life  of  man.  Eecord  !  Eecord  !  And  then, 
with  conscience  and  record  pointing  up  into  the  face  of  the 
great  God,  and  the  great  God  pointing  to  a  judgment  seat — a 
judgment  seat! 

I  tell  you,  my  friends,  if  there  is  not  to  be  any  final  judg- 
ment when  man  shall  be  brought  to  a  final  bar  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  all  the  deeds  done  in  the  body,  if  there  is  not  to  be 
any  judgment  hereafter,  there  are  incidents  and  feelings  and 
aspirations  and  fears  and  dreads  about  my  being  that  can- 
not be  explained  in  time  or  eternity.  Every  bad  deed  of 
my  life,  every  wayward  act  of  my  life,  every  wicked  word 
of  my  life,  have  been  so  many  fingers  pointing  me  ever  and 
anon  to  the  great  day  that  I  shall  give  an  account  to  God, 
for  the  way  I  have  lived,  for  what  I  have  done,  for  what  I 
have  said. 

Judgment  is  a  forensic  term,  and  means  simply  the  equit- 
able adjustment  of  an  issue;  but  in  an  ecclesiastical  sense  it 
means  the  final  sermon  in  heaven's  chancery,  when  God  shall 
summon  men  and  angels  alike  around  bis  great  w^hite 
throne  and  there  sift  the  issue  between  himself  and  all  cre- 
ated intellgience  ;  and  when  God  once  says  to  you,  "Ye 
cursed,'^  there  never  shall  be  an  after  jurisdiction.  The 
record  of  my  guilt,  as  the  glory  of  my  commendation,  will 
blaze  forever  in  full  view  of  my  eyes  as  my  vindication  in 
heaven  or  my  condemnation  in  hell  is  ordered. 

ESCAPING  JUDGMENT. 

Judgment!  Let  us  strip  this  subject  of  all  its  mystery. 
When  a  man  has  violated  the  laws  of  Missouri  there  are  but 
three  ways  by  which  he  can  hope  to  escape.  One  is  by 
force  of  law,  another  by  force  of  testimony,  another  by  par- 
don, where  the  Governor  extends  his  clemency  and  pardons 
the  criminal.  Now  I  grant  you  that  justice  may  be  defeated 
in  many  ways.  A  criminal  may  violate  the  law  of  Missouri 
and  fly  from  justice,  and  keep  out  of  the  way  of  Sheriff's  and 
officers.  He  may  bribe  the  Grand  Jury  so  that  they  will  not 
find  a  true  bill  against  him.  He  may  bribe  the  jury  that 
tries  him,  or  the  Judge  that  tries  him  ;  but  when  a  man  is 
once  arraigned  before  the  criminal  courts  of  this  country 
there  are  but  three  ways  by  which  ho  can  escape  justice. 

11 


164  Conscience — Record — God. 

One  way  is  by  force  of  law.  Now,  when  a  criminal  is 
brought  into  the  Court  House,  and  one  witness  after  anoth- 
er is  introduced,  and  they  prove  his  guilt  beyond  reasonable 
doubt,  and  when  the  Judge  picks  up  the  Code  of  Missouri 
and  saj's:  ^'This  man  is  guilty,  but  the  law  of  Missouri  does 
not  make  the  offense  a  crime,"  the  man  is  acquitted  by  force 
of  law.  There  is  no  law  that  says  his  conduct  is  criminal, 
therefore  he  is  acquitted. 

'  But  if  the  thing  charged  in  the  indictment  is  a  crime, 
then  he  may  be  acquitted  by  force  of  testimony.  When  the 
jury  after  hearing  the  evidence,  say:  '^  There  is  not  suffic- 
ient evidence  to  convict,  and  we  find  the  prisoner  not 
guilty,''  then  the  prisoner  is  acquitted  by  force  of  testimony. 

But  if  he  his  condemned  by  law,  and  he  is  condemned  by 
testimony,  then  there  is  but  one  hope,  and  that  is  the  pardon 
of  the  G-overnor. 

ESCAPING  DIVINE  JUSTICE. 

I^ow,  up  yonder  before  that  tribunal  there  can  be  but  three 
ways  by  which  men  can  hope  to  escape.  You  cannot  dodge 
God's  ministerial  officers  and  keep  out  of  their  way.  You 
will  come  to  the  judgment!  to  the  judgment!  to  the  judg- 
ment!  When  we  leave  this  room  this  afternoon  some  will  go 
this  way,  some  that  way,  but  every  road  you  take  converges 
right  at  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ,  and  if  we  never  see 
each  other's  faces  again  we  shall  meet  at  the  throne  of  G-od  at 
last.  I  cannot  dodge  God's  ministerial  officers.  As  the  Bi- 
ble would  quote  it: 

Oh,  whither  sliall  I  go  from  thy  presence?  And  whither  shall  I  flee  from 
thy  spirit  ?  If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning  and  fly  to  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth,  the  Lord  God  is  there.  If  I  make  my  bed  in  hell  the  Lord  God  is 
there. 

No,  sir!  God  Almighty  will  burn  this  world  up  and  bring 
us  to  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ.  You  cannot  dodge  the 
ministerial  officers  already  on  your  track.  One  of  God's 
sheriffs  put  his  hand  on  your  head  one  day,  and  since  that  it 
has  begun  to  frost.  God's  sheriff  touched  your  eye  one  day, 
and  you  have  been  wearing  spectacles  ever  since.  God's 
sheriff  touched  your  leg,  and  you  are  now  walking  with  a 
cane  along  the  streets.  Wherever  you  meet  men  the  touch 
of  God's  sheriff  is  upon  them  ;  and  that  means  simply, 
I  have  claimed  you  for  my  own  I 
I  will  take  you  by-and-by. 


Conscience — Record — God.  165 

And  then,  again.  You  cannot  bribe  God's  grand  jury. 
They  have  already  sat  upon  your  case,  and  the  verdict 
reads: 

The  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall  die,  and  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  con- 
demned. 

AN  INCORRUPTIBLE  JUDGE. 

I  know  in  this  country  sometimes  that  a  criminal  occa- 
sionally rushes  up  and  defies  the  Court  and  its  authorities ; 
but  can  you  defy  the  court  of  God  that  sits  upon  the  throne  ? 
Shall  I  rush  ujj  in  the  presence  of  the  great  God,  who  in  the 
beginning  held  a  great  flaming  mass  on  the  anvil  of  eternal 
purpose,  and  pounded  it  with  his  own  powerful  arm,  and 
when  every  spark  that  flew  from  it  made  a  world  —  shall  I 
rush  up  into  the  presence  of  such  a  God  as  that  and  defy 
him?  ]^o,  sir  !  Shall  I  bribe  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  ?  iNo, 
sir !  But  when  I  shall  be  individualized  at  thatfinal  moment, 
and  shall  walk  out  into  the  presence  of  that  great  God,  I 
have  but  three  ways  in  which  I  can  hope  to  escape. 

One  is  by  force  of  law.  ISTow,  hear  me !  I  shake  that  little 
bundleof  paper  (the  Bible)  in  your  face,  and  if  that  little 
bundle  of  paper  is  true,  it  outweighs  all  this  universe.  If 
this  book  is  true,  I  have  in  my  hand  a  bundle  of  paper  that 
does  not  weigh  ten  ounces  that  outweighs  all  the  stars  of 
the  universe.  If  this  little  book  is  true — and  we  have  to 
die  whether  it  is  true  or  not — you  and  I  must  meet  God  and 
give  an  account  of  what  we  have  done  in  the  body. 

The  law  of  God.  I  want  to  say  at  this  point  that  God  will 
spring  no  new  law  upon  you  up  yonder.  Men  say:  ^'I  do 
not  like  to  read  that  Bible,  it  condemns  me.''  If  this  law 
condemns  you  down  herein  Missouri  to-day,  it  will  condemn 
you  up  yonder  at  the  judgment  to-morrow.  You  will  be  the 
same  man.     This  will  be  the  same  book. 

VIOLATING   THE   SPIRIT   OF   LAW. 

^'But,"  says  that  man,  ''I  have  never  violated  many  laws 
in  that  book."     Well,  listen: 

He  that  brcaketh  the  least  commandment  is  guilty  of  all. 

How  do  you  understand  that?  Yonder  is  a  boat  chained 
to  a  wharf  on  your  levee.  That  chain  has  one  hundred  links, 
but  if  I  want  to  cut  that  boat  loose,  how  many  links  must  I 
cut?     Fifty  of  the  biggest  links?     Ten  of  the  middle-sized 


166  Conscience — Rec'ord — God. 

ones?  No.  I  need  only  cut  the  smallest  link,  and  that  boat 
is  as  effectually  loosened  as  if  I  had  cut  them  all.  And  he 
that  breaks  the  least  commandment  is  as  guilty  as  if  he  had 
broken  them  all.  Suppose  I  want  to  go  to  Kansas  City. 
There  is  one  right  road  to  that  place,  and  a  thousand  lead- 
ing in  other  directions.  When  I  take  oneof  the  wrong  roads 
I  am  as  effectually  out  of  the  way  as  if  I  had  taken  every 
wrong  road  in  the  universe.  And,  brother,  hear  me:  God 
looks  not  upon  sin  with  the  least  allowance,  and  can  any 
man  stand  up  before  the  final  bar  and  say:  "I  have  never 
violated  a  precept  of  that  book/'  Until  you  can  do  that  you 
can  never  hope  to  escape  by  the  force  of  law. 

The  law  condemns.     The  apostle  tells  us  that 
No  flesh  shall  be  justified  by  the  works  of  the  law. 

The  law  is  but  a  rule  of  action  that  prescribes  what  is  right 
and  prohibits  what  is  wrong.  And,  brother,  hear  me  !  If,  in 
your  past  life,  you  have  ever  violated  a  precept  in  this  book, 
you  cannot  hope  to  escape  up  yonder  by  force  of  law  on  the 
final  judgment  day.  "  I  am  guilty  before  God.  I  have  vio- 
lated precept  after  precept.  I  have  not  only  done  it  repeat- 
edly, but  I  have  done  it  knowingly  and  willfully.  I  cannot 
hope  to  be  acquitted  by  force  of  law." 

THE    FORCE    OE    TESTIMONY. 

Then  I  say  to  you,  how  about  the  force  of  testimony  ?  Now 
we  have  come  directly  to  the  text: 
What  I  have  written,  I  have  written. 

I  just  quoted  before  that : 
So,  then,  every  one  of  us  shall  give  an  account  of  himself  to  God. 

Know  thou  that  for  all  these  things  thou  shalt  be  brought 
unto  judgment  whether  these  things  can  be  good  or  bad. 
Now  we  stand  there  before  his  final  throne. 
What  I  have  written,  I  have  written. 

I  declare  to  you  this  evening  that  it  is  my  belief,  and  it  is 
founded  on  Scripture,  that  every  man  and  every  boy  of  us 
is  now  writing  testimony  by  which  we  shall  stand  or  fall  at 
the  last  judgment  day.  ^'Greenleaf  on  Evidence''  tells  us 
that  the  best  evidence  a  case  is  susceptible  of  must  be  pro- 
duced. He  tells  us  again  that  written  testimony  is  bet- 
ter than  oral  testimony.     He  tells  us  again  that  the  evidence 


Conscience — Becord — God,  167 

produced  must  correspond  with  the  allegation  and  be  con- 
fined to  the  point  at  issue.  JSTow,  brother,  here  is  the  best 
testimony  (the  Bible),  and  every  word  of  it  in  God's  own 
handwriting.  Written  testimony  is  better  than  oral  testi- 
mony. Lumpkin,  one  of  the  grandest  jurists  that  ever  sat 
upon  the  Supreme  bench  cf  Georgia,  said:  '^  I  would  rather 
trust  the  smallest  slip  of  oaper  than  the  best  memory  man 
Avas  ever  gifted  with.''  A'^vq  is  written  testimony :  Start  an 
engine  from  E'ew  York  to  oan  Francisco,  and  there  is  attach- 
ed to  its  side  a  little  piece  of  mechanism  Avhich  indicates  the 
number  of  miles  it  has  traveled,  the  stoppages  it  has  made, 
and  how  long  it  stopped  at  each  station  ;  and  if  you  want  to 
know  the  record  of  the  journey  you  need  not  ask  the  engi- 
neer a  word.  The  little  piece  of  mechanism  on  the  side  of 
the  engine  tells  you  its  record.  You  go  to  the  City  of  ]^ew 
York  and  you  see  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  with  its  seven  hun- 
dred rooms.  You  see  that  it  is  lighted  up  day  after  day  and 
night  after  night,  some  rooms  burning  a  hundred  jets,  some 
ten,  some  one.  You  step  to  the  proprietor  and  say,  "How 
can  you  keep  an  account  of  this  gas?  How  do  you  know 
how  much  you  burn  ?  "  and  he  says,  ''Come  with  me.''  You 
walk  with  him  down  underneath  a  double  stairway.  He 
strikes  a  match  and  lights  a  candle  and  holds  it  to  the  dial 
plate  of  the  gas-meter.  He  says,  ''You  see  that  finger  tremb- 
ling on  the  face  of  the  dial  ?  That  indicates  to  the  one-hun- 
dredth part  of  an  inch  how  much  gas  has  passed  through 
this  meter  during  the  past  three  months.  There  is  the  rec- 
ord for  3^ou!"  And  every  man  and  every  boy  this  evening 
must  stand  up  and  face  this  fact. 

What  I  have  written,  I  have  written  up  to  this  hour. 

A  RECORD    NOT  FOR   WIFE's   PERUSAL. 

Ah,  me!  The  record  of  some  men,  the  record  of  some  boys, 
who  hear  my  voice  this  moment.  If  your  wife  could  read 
your  record  just  as  you  have  written  it  down,  she  would 
spurn  you  from  her  presence  and  drive  you  ever  from  her 
home.  There  are  boys  listening  to  my  voice  whose  mothers 
would  drive  them  from  their  presence  if  they  could  read  the 
last  night's  record  of  those  boys.  Oh,  the  record!  Boj^s,  every 
oath,  every  wicked  deed,  every  midnight  carousal,  every  de- 
bauched act  of  your  life  is  written  in  legible,  indelible  letters, 


V 

168  Conscience — Record — God. 

and  shall  sparkle  forever  on  the  tablets  of  your  heart. 

Oh  me  !  Men  sometimes  say  it  makes  no  difference.  Broth- 
ther,  it  makes  no  difference  whether  you  approached  this 
hall  in  this  or  that  spirit ;  but  it  makes  an  eternal  difference 
whether  you  did  right  or  wrong  on  your  way  here. 

Record  !  Record !  We  sometimes  say,  ^'As  true  as  the  Bi- 
ble;" but  every  record,  every  line  on  the  tablet  of  your 
heart  is  just  as  true  as  the  Bible  is  true.  It  is  a  secret  record. 
God  would  not  suffer  an  angel  of  heaven  to  touch  that  rec- 
ord. Grod  would  not  suffer  the  worst  enemy  in  the  world  to 
touch  that  record  of  yours.  God  would  not  suffer  your  prec- 
ious mother  to  put  her  finger  on  that  record.  It  is  a  secret 
record  of  the  soul  by  which  it  shall  stand  or  fall  at  the  judg- 
ment seat  of  Christ.  True  !  true  !  Holy  Spirit,  shine  on  our 
record  this  evening  !  Let  us  read  it  now  in  thirty  seconds — 
a  record  of  accumulated  guilt  that  shall  drive  us  to  some 
power  to  save,  some  power  to  relieve. 


Record  !  Record  !  What  is  your  record  as  a  Presbyterian? 
On  one  side  of  your  record  I  see  recorded  vows  of  eternal 
constancy  to  God.  On  that  page  I  see,  ^'I  swear  eternal  al- 
legiance to  God  and  the  right."  Brother,  what  is  your  record 
from  that  day  to  this?  Brother  Methodists,  with  vows  upon 
you  that  would  almost  crush  an  angel,  how  have  you  lived 
since  you  knowingly  and  intentionally  made  these  vows  to 
God  ?  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  what  is  your 
record  since  the  day  God  called  you  unto  his  work,  and  you 
promised  to  be  faithful  to  God  and  to  man  ?  Oh,  Holy  Spir- 
it, shine  on  these  records  here  this  evening.  Let  us  see  what 
we  must  meet  at  the  final  bar  of  God.  I  want  to  say  to  you 
that  I  would  frequently  preach  very  differently,  but  for 
record-making.  I  want  to  say  to  this  vast  assemblage  of 
fathers,  husbands  and  sons  here  this  evening,  that  while  I 
preach  the  gospel  to  others,  I  never  forget  for  a  moment  that 
I  have  a  soul  in  my  own  body  that  will  be  saved  or  lost.  God 
pity  us  here  this  evening,  and  turn  our  eyes  inward,  to  see 
these  records  as  God  would  have  us  see  them.  What  is  your 
record,  husband?  AVhat  is  your  record,  father  ?  Whatisyour 
record,  son  ?  There  are  hundreds  of  men  here  this  evening, 
and  the  only  reason  you  can  hold  up  your  heads,  the  only 


Conscience — Record — God,  169 

reason  you  can  move  among  your  fellows,  is  the  conscious- 
ness that  nobody  on  earth  can  read  your  record.  It  is  hid- 
den out  of  the  sight  of  man.  There  are  men  listening  to  me 
now  who,  if  I  could  tear  a  page  of  the  record  from  their 
heart  and  stick  it  there  on  that  wall  in  legible  letters,  would 
shrink  from  this  congregation,  rush  out  of  this  hall  and  out 
of  this  town,  and  never  be  seen  within  its  radius  again.*  Oh, 
brother,  it  is  hidden  now,  but  God's  word  for  it,  every  wick- 
ed act,  every  secret  sin  shall  be  proclaimed  from  the  house 
tops.    Oh,  fearful  thought!    Eecord  !    It  was  this  that  made 

the  poet  say : 

It  is  not  all  of  life  to  live, 
Nor  all  of  death  to  die. 

A  wipe's  trick  on  her  husband. 
I  know  that  you  may  drown  out  this  record  in  a  night's 
spree,  but  it  comes  back  with  all  its  power  to  condemn  in 
the  morning.  I  know  that  in  the  giddy  round  of  pleasure 
you  may  drown  its  voice  for  the  hour;  but  ever  and  anon  it 
shakes,  it  shakes  its  horny  hand  in  your  face,  and  says  : 
^'Look !  Eead  the  record  of  yesterday,  of  last  week,  of  last 
year." 

What  I  have  written,  I  have  written. 

What  have  you  written  upon  the  record  of  your  life  ?  What 
upon  yours?  And  upon  yours?  I  stand  here  to  con- 
demn no  man.  I  ask  you,  my  brother,  in  all  love  and  kind- 
ness, what  is  the  record  you  have  made  to  this  hour  ?  Some 
months  ago  a  lady  slipped  a  pedometer  into  her  husband's 
pocket  as  he  went  out  in  the  evening.  He  was  a  business 
man  in  the  city,  but  every  night,  as  he  left  the  supper  table, 
he  said  :  *'I  have  to  go  down  to  the  store."  On  one  occa- 
casion  she  put  one  of  these  indicators  in  his  clothes,  and 
when  he  came  back  she  took  it  out  and  consulted  it.  The 
faithful  little  dial  told  her  that  her  husband  had  walked  sev- 
enteen miles  that  night.  And  she  said  to  him  :  ^'Husband, 
where  have  you  been  to-night  ?"  He  replied  :  ^'  I  have  been 
posting  my  books."  She  said  :  ^' Husband,  that  won't  do. 
Do  you  post  your  books  as  you  walk  ?"  <^  No,"  he  said,  "  I 
post  my  books  sitting  at  my  desk."  She  pulled  the  little 
indicator  out  and  put  it  in  his  face,  and  said,  '■'■  There  is  the 
record  of  your  work  !     Seventeen  miles  to-night.     It  is  half 


170  Conscience — Record — God. 

a  mile  to  the  store,  and  half  a  mile  back.  Explain  yourself/' 
She  made  him  explain,  and  it  turned  out  he  had  walked  six- 
teen miles  around  a  billiard  table  playing  pool.  And  I  tell 
3"0u,  my  congregation,  to-night,  that  within  your  bosom 
there  is  a  faithful  record  being  kept  every  day,  and  when 
at  last  God. shall  say,  "  Who  art  thou  and  what  bast  thou 
done?"  the  record  has  passed  into  the  recording  angel's 
hands,  and  he  shall  read  line  after  line  and  page  after  page 
of  guilt  that  is  enough  to  damn  the  universe. 

A  VARIANCE  FROM  THE  RECORD. 

Oh,  record,  record!  Every  oath  has  been  recorded. 
Every  wicked  act  has  been  recorded.  Every  unfaithful  act 
has  been  recorded.  Oh,  my  brother,  how  about  your  re- 
cord? I  have  found  out  another  thing:  men  talk  one  way 
with  their  tongue,  and  write  another  way  upon  the  record 
of  their  heart.  A  man  stands  up  there  and  says,  "I  do  not 
believe  inGrod."  Then  he  writes  down  upon  the  tablet  of 
his  heart,  *' I  have  just  told  a  lie.  I  do.  I  do."  A  man  out 
there  says,  "  I  do  not  see  any  use  in  revivals.  I  am  as  good 
as  anybody  in  the  Church."  Then  he  takes  up  his  pen  and 
writes  within,  *'  I  have  told  one  of  the  biggest  lies  I  ever 
told.  There  is  a  big  use  in  revivals.  The  world  is  going  to 
destruction,  and  I  am  the  meanest  man  in  town."  He  writes 
one  way  and  talks  another.  Brethren,  I  will  know  you  by- 
and-by  just  as  you  are. 

Oh,  record,  record  !  There  are  men  who  hear  my  voice 
this  afternoon,  who,  if  their  record  were  to  close  with  this 
hour,  have  sinned  enough  to  damn  the  universe;  and  I  beg 
you  to  never  add  another  line  to  that  accumulating  record 
of  guilt,  which  is  enough  to  make  the  devil,  when  he  looks 
at  it,  hide  his  black  ftice  under  his  wings  !  God  pity  us  this 
evening  !  May  the  pen  drop  from  our  palsied  hands  !  May 
we  never  indite  another  line  that  may  condemn  us  here  or 
at  the  judgment  bar  of  God. 

AN    INEFFACEABLE  RECORD. 

What  I  have  written,  I  have  written. 

And  I  want  to  tell  you  that  once  you  put  it  down  it  is 

down  forever.     The  autobiographies  we  write  on  paper  can 

be  altered  and  underlined,  but  the  autobiography  you  have 

written  on  the  tablet  of  your  heart  can  never  be  altered  or 


Conscience — Record — ^od,  171 

erased.    It  goes  down  as  it  is.     It  abides  with  you  forever. 

Record!  record!  record!  At  the  age  of  twenty-four  I 
was  brought  face  to  face  with  the  fact  that  I  had  a  record 
sufficient  to  damn  the  universe.  Brother,  let  me  turn  to 
Spencer,  let  me  read  him  through  and  through;  and,  having 
done  so,  I  say  to  Mr.  Spencer :  "  I  have  been  charmed  with 
your  theory,  but  how  about  my  conscience,  my  record,  my 
Grod?''  Mr.  Spencer  says:  ^'I  do  not  treat  on  those  sub- 
jects." I  say :  "Of  all  the  subjects,  those  I  am  most  in  need 
of."  Then  I  turn  to  Mr.  Darwin,  and  after  reading  his  evo- 
lution tjieories,  I  say:  "But  how  about  my  conscience,  my 
record,  my  God  ?"  He  says  :  "  I  do  not  treat  on  those  sub- 
jects." I  go  to  Mr.  Tynd/ill,  and  to  all  earthly  philosophers 
and  scientists  just  at  the  time  I  need  help  and  enlightenment, 
but  they  turn  their  backs  on  me  and  walk  off.  Kow,  with 
record  enough  to  damn  the  universe,  I  stand  with  no  phil- 
osopher to  help  me,  and  no  scientist  that  can  reach  me. 
Brother,  hear  me !  All  the  tears  of  my  precious  mother 
could  never  have  erased  one  single  line  of  this  record.  All 
the  prayers  of  my  father  would  have  been  wasted  on  this 
record.  All  the  prayers  of  the  Church  would  avail  noth- 
ing. All  the  combined  chemicals  of  earth  could  not  have 
erased  one  single  word  of  it.     Oh,  what  shall  I  do? 

And  now,  brother,  I  will  tell  you  why  I  hang  my  highest 
hope  of  salvation  on  this  blessed  gospel.  When  every  other 
source  had  failed  me,  I  took  this  book  in  my  hands  and  I 
sought  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ;  and  there  a  poor,  guilty, 
wicked  wretch,  I  fell  down  under  the  cross.  And  the  precious 
Savior  picked  me  up  and  pardoned  all  my  sins.  He  blotted  out 
this  record  of  mine,  and  he  took  my  arms  and  put  them 
around  the  neck  of  God.  And  I  love  this  religion  and  this 
Bible,  because  it  proposes  to  do  with  conscience  and  with 
record  and  with  God.  And  there  is  no  other  system  in  the 
moral  universe  that  proposes  to  lead  and  direct  a  poor  man 
in  these  dreadful  extremities. 

GOING   TO   THE    CROSS. 

Aye,  with  record  enough  to  condemn  all  men,  T  went  to 
the  Cross : 

I  saw  one  hanging  on  the  tree 

In  ngoriies  of  blood. 
He  fixed  his  hinguid  eyes  on  me, 
As  near  his  cross  I  stood. 


172  Conscience — Becord — God, 

Sure,  never  to  my  latest  breath 

Can  I  forget  that  look  ; 
He  seemed  to  charge  me  with  his  death, 

Though  not  a  word  he  spoke. 

My  conscience  felt  and  owned  the  guilt 

And  pluHged  me  in  despair ; 
I  saw  my  sins  His  blood  had  spilled 

And  helped  to  nail  him  there. 

A  second  look  He  gave,  which  said: 

"I  freely  ail  forgive, 
My  blood  is  shed  to  ransom  thee, 

I  die  that  you  may  live." 

And  now  I  understand  that  blessed  old  hymn: 

There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood 
Drawn  from  Emmanuel's  veins. 

BROTHER  JONES*  HOPE. 

Bless  God  for  that  precious  blood  that  saves  a  poor,  lost, 
ruined  sinner !  I  want  to  say  to  you  to-day  that  my  hope  of 
heaven  rests  on  this  point.  Fourteen  years  ago  a  poor, 
wrecked,  ruined  sinner,  his  blood  washed  away  my  guilt, 
and  now  my  record  has  been  washed  out  in  the  precious 
blood  of  the  Son  of  God.  Now  take  heed  to  the  judgment. 
Charge  me  with  Sabbath-breaking,  charge  me  with  infidel- 
ity, charge  me  with  everything;  but  there  is  the  record, 
and  the  precious  blood  has  washed  out  every  page  and 
every  line,  and  I  stand  acquitted  on  the  final  judgment  day 
by  the  force  of  testimony  and  the  prerogative  of  pardon. 
Blessed  be  God !  Acquitted  on  the  final  judgment  day. 
Brother,  brother,  the  hope  of  the  world  is  the  cross  of  the 
Son  of  God.  Let  us  rush  up  under  that  cross  this  evening, 
the  lost,  the  wicked,  and  the  wayward.  Fourteen  years  ago 
I  was  the  worst  of  the  worst,  and  sometimes  I  think  that  God 
suffered  me,  in  spite  of  my  mother's  prayers  and  my  father's 
example,  to  go  down  to  the  gates  of  hell,  that  I  might  be 
sent  back  again  to  rescue  the  men  closest  to  the  gates  of  hell. 
God  help  you  this  evening !  I  care  not  who  you  are,  he  will 
not  only  pardon  your  sins,  but  he  will  separate  them  as  far 
as  the  East  is  from  the  West.     He  says : 

I  will  blot  them  out  of  the  book  of  my  remembrance. 

Oh,  brethren,  let  us  turn  our  eyes  to  the  hope  of  the  world. 


Conscience — Record — God,  173- 

This  evening  let  us,  on  God's  own  terms  of  capitulation,  run 
the  white  flag  out  of  the  citadel  of  our  hearts,  and  God  will  tell 
the  angels  to  spread  their  wings  and  fly  down  to  earth,  and 
convey  peace  and  hope  to  every  rebellious  heart.  I  want  ev- 
ery man  that  Would  run  up  the  white  flag  and  surrender  to 
God  and  the  right,  to  try  to  live  for  God  and  make  his  way 
to  heaven,  to  stand  on  his  feet  for  a  moment. 

[All  rose  to  their  feet,  and  Mr.  Jones  thanked  God  for  that 
hopeful  demonstration.] 


^ERj^ON   X. 

pRIgONf:^?    OF    j4oPE  AJ^D    pr^igo]NEi^3 

OF    pEgpyMR. 


Turn  you  to  the  stronghold,  ye  prisoners  of  hope ;  even  to-day  do  I  declare 
that  I  will  render  double  unto  thee.— Zechariah  9 ;  12. 

JWiHE  all-absorbing  theme  with  God  and  angels  and  good 
F  men  is  the  salvation  of  the  living.  Not  the  salvation  of 
men  who  lived  fifty  years  ago,  or  a  hundred  years  ago. 
They  have  had  their  opportunities  and  enjoyed  their  priv- 
ileges, and  they  have  met  their  destiny.  Not  the  salvation 
of  men  who  shall  live  a  hundred  years  hence;  they  have  yet 
to  be  born,  and  yet  to  enjoy  their  privileges  and  opportu- 
nities. But  the  absorbing  theme  of  God  and  angels  and 
good  men  is  the  salvation  of  men  and  women  who  live  and 
walk  and  talk  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  to-night.  And  isn't 
it  passing  strange  that  this  great  question  should  so  engage 
the  heart  and  mind  of  God,  and  of  angels  and  of  good  men, 
and  yet,  perhaps,  you,  and  you,  and  you,  should  be  the  only 
creatures  in  all  God's  vast  universe  that  seem  to  be  totally 
uninterested  in  this  great  question  ?  And  now,  we  purpose 
to-night,  not  to  draw  upon  our  imagination  or  try  in  the 
least  to  impose  upon  your  credulity,  but  we  stand  squarely 
on  the  book,  and  we  will  talk  about  what  we  know. 

A   COMMON   KNOWLEDGE. 

Somehow  or  other  I  love  frequently  to  talk  over  things 
with  the  friends  that  I  know,  and  when  we  begin  to  talk 
about  the  "I  knows"  and  the  *'you  knows"  and  the  *' he 
knows"  and  the  "she  knows,"  then  we  begin  to  get  very 
close  to  one  another.  There  are  some  things  that  we  all 
know  in  common.  I  know  that  I  am  twenty-four  hours 
nearer  the  cemetery  than  when  I  assembled  with  you  in  this 
house  last  night.  You  know  you  have  one  day  less  to  live 
174 


Prisoners  of  Hope  and  Prisoners  of  Despair.  175 

than  you  had  this  morning  when  the  sun  arose  upon  this 
world.  You  know  that  these  moments  bear  our  life  away, 
and  are  carrying  us  into  the  great  beyond.  You  know  that 
in  your  youthful  days  your  heart  was  softer,  your  con- 
science was  more  tender,  and  your  will  was  more  easily  af- 
fected by  truth  and  by  grace  than  it  is  to-night.  You  know 
that  you  are  not  such  a  husband  as  you  ought  to  be.  You 
know  you  do  not  set  such  an  example  to  your  children  as' 
you  ought  to.  You  know  your  life  and  character  to-night  are 
not  what  they  ought  to  be  before  God  and  man.  I  say  that 
when  we  begin  to  talk  about  these  things  that  we  know,  we 
are  getting  very  close  together,  and  there  are  some  things 
that  we  know  from  the  teachings  of  that  book.  And  now 
we  come  squarely  to  the  text: 

Turn  ye  to  the  stronghold,  ye  prisoners  of  hope. 

We  stop  at  this  point  to  say  that  there  are  three  classes  of 
prisoners  with  hope,  and  there  are  three  classes  of  prisoners 
without  hope.  Now,  let  us  find  our  latitude  and  longitude 
in  spiritual  things.  Let  us  find  where  we  are  on  this  occa-. 
sion.  It  is  the  privilege  of  every  man  to  know  his  bearings 
to-night,  to  know  just  where  he  is,  and  to  know  whither  he 
is  tending. 

FALLEN  ANGELS   WITHOUT   HOPE. 

The  first  class  of  prisoners  without  hope  that  the  book 
speaks  of  are  the  angels  who  kept  not  their  first  estate,  but 
sinned  against  God  and  were  driven  away  and  put  in  chains 
of  everlasting  darkness  to  await  the  final  judgment  day. 
While  you  and  I  have  had  a  chance  of  life,  and  while  peace 
and  pardon  is  for  the  fallen  man,  those  angels  who  kept  not 
their  first  estate  are  in  that  lone  land  of  deep  despair  with- 
out a  ray  of  heavenly  light  or  a  spark  of  hope  forever  and 
forever.  As  I  look  upon  an  immortal  spirit  whose  chains 
confine  it  to  hopeless  and  everlasting  despair,  my  heart 
shudders  as  I  look  upon  the  picture.  But  I  never  saw  an 
angel.  I  have  never  been  brought  into  sympathy  with  an- 
gels by  association.  I  know  very  little  of  them.  Angels 
have  not  flesh  and  blood.  They  are  not  subjected  to  wrin- 
kles and  gray  hairs  and  old  age  and  death,  like  you  and  I, 
and  perhaps  they  are  separated  from  our  sympathy. 

But  this  book  speaks  of  another  class  of  prisoners  with- 


176  Prisoners  of  Hope  and  Prisoners  of  Despair. 

out  hope.  That  is  that  man  and  that  woman  who  have  walk^ 
ed  the  streets  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  enjoyed  just  such 
privileges  as  you  and  I  enjoy,  and  then  die  without  Grod  and 
without  hope  in  the  world.  There  may  be  some  gospel 
truth  in  that  old  couplet: 

While  the  lamp  holds  out  to  burn, 
The  vilest  sinner  may  return — 

but  when  fate  snuffs  the  candle  and  it  goes  out  in  death, 
then  all  hope  is  gone  forever.  I  ask  you,  mother,  did  you 
ever  pray  for  your  boy  since  he  breathed  his  last  breath? 
Wife,  have  you  ever  offered  prayer  for  your  husband  since 
he  bade  you  good-by  in  death?  Sister,  have  you  wrestled 
with  God  at  the  mercy-seat  for  the  salvation  of  your  brother 
since  he  passed  out  of  the  world  ?  !No,  sir,  the  common  con- 
victions of  humanity  are  altogether  on  this  proposition,  that 
as  the  tree  falleth  so  it  shall  lie  forever,  and  that  instead  of 
there  being  anything  in  death  to  revere  and  to  sanctify  and 
to  save,  that  death  is  the  opening  of  the  door,  and  the  pass- 
ing out  of  the  soul  into  eternity. 

WHERE  PREACHING  IS  IN  VAIN. 

I  have  preached  the  gospel  in  more  than  twenty  States, 
perhaps,  of  this  Union.  I  may  proach  the  gospel  in  every 
State  of  this  grand  old  Union.  If  God  were  to  call  me  to  China 
1  would  go  to  China  and  preach  the  gospel  as  willingly  and 
as  cheerfully  as  I  bade  wife  and  children  good-by  to  come 
to  your  city.  But  there's  one  place  I  never  have  preached 
the  gospel,  and  there's  one  place  I  never  shall  preach  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  is  out  here  in  the  cemetery. 
I  shall  never  stand  among  the  tombstones  of  earth  and  beg 
the  bones  of  the  cemetery  to  come  to  Christ.  Xo,  sir! 
Never!  What  you  and  I  do  with  this  question  we  must  do 
between  this  and  the  gate  of  the  cemetery.  What  you  and  I 
do  upon  this  question  we  must  do  before  the  doctor  lays  his 
hand  upon  our  pulse  for  the  last  time,  and  bids  our  weeping 
wife  or  loved  ones  to  preparefor  the  worst — that  death  shall 
come  in  an  hour.  What  you  and  I  do  upon  this  question 
must  be  done  before  that  clock  on  the  mantel-piece  seems  to 
click  louder  than  ever  before.  What  you  and  I  do  must  be 
done  before  wife  or  loved  ones  shall  bathe  their  handker- 
chiefs in  their  tears  and  weep  over  us  as  we  pass  out  of  time 


Prisoners  of  Hope  and  Prisoners  of  Despair.  177 

into  eternity.  If  that  book  teaches  anything  clearly,  it 
teaches  there  is  no  knowledge  or  device  or  repentance  in 
the  grave,  v^hither  we  are  all  tending,  and  I  tell  you,  my 
brother,  that  whatever  we  may  be  in  this  life,  or  what  pre- 
parations we  may  make  and  what  character  we  form  in  this 
life,  shall  settle  destiny  for  us  when  life  shall  bid  us  walk 
out  of  the  body  and  go  into  the  great  beyond.  And  this 
man  and  this  woman,  who  have  lived  and  died  in  our  midst, 
enjoyed  the  same  privileges,  enjoyed  the  same  opportun- 
ities that  you  and  I  enjoy,  yet,  in  spite  of  all  overtures  of 
grace  and  the  wagon-loads  of  sermons  that  have  been  wasted 
upon  them,  in  spite  of  all,  have  come  to  death's  hour  with- 
out preparation,  and  passed  into  eternity  to  be  judged  by 
the  God  of  all  the  earth.     Oh, 

Deatli  rides  on  every  passing  breeze, 
And  lurks  in  every  flower; 

Each  season  hath  its  own  disease, 
Its  peril  every  hour. 

"  NO  TIME  TO  SELL." 

And  perhaps  one  thousand  of  this  congregation  at  this 
moment,  if  you  were  to  die  in  your  pew  before  I  am  through 
preaching,  would  be  prisoners  without  hope  forever.  Your 
heart  in  your  bosom  is  a  muffled  drum  beating  your  funeral 
march  to  the  tomb.  And  every  step  you  and  I  take  from 
this  hour  to  our  dying  couch  shall  be  towards  the  cemetery, 
and  yet  we  rush  right  upon  the  gates  of  the  cemetery  unpre- 
pared for  death  and  unp^^epared  for  eternity. 

I  see  men  whiling  away  and  throwing  away  hours  of  their 
life.  Many  and  many  in  this  city  will  be  like  the  millionaire 
of  London  who  gave  his  life  to  making  money,  and  when 
stricken  suddenly  with  meningitis  his  doctor  hurried  to  him 
and  said  to  him,  ''You  have  meningitis  and  you'll  bo  dead 
in  two  hours."  And  the  wealthy,  worldly  man  looked  him 
in  the  face  and  said:  ''  Doctor,  if  you'll  keep  me  alive  till  to- 
morrow morning  at  eight  o'clock,  I'll  give  you  £100,000. 
I'll  give  it  to  you  checrfull3^"  The  doctor  looked  at  him 
and  said:  "I  have  prescriptions  to  give  and  I  have  re- 
medies for  disease,  but,  m}^  friend,  I  have  no  time  to  sell. 
Time  belongs  to  G-od."  Oh,  poor  wayward,  worldly  man, 
that  whiled  away  all  the  precious  hours  of  life,  and  now, 
forsooth,  when  death  meets  him,  tells  his  physician,  ''I  will 


178  Prisohers  of  Hope  and  Frisoners  of  Despair, 

give  you  half  a  million  dollars  if  you  will  keep  me  alive  foi 
sixteen  hours/'  Oh,  poor  humanity,  throwing  away  hours 
and  privileges  that  are  worth  all  the  world! 

PERSONAL  CONGRATULATIONS. 

A  prisoner  without  hope ! 
Oh,  sir,  if  there  is  a  fact  in  my  history  for  which  I  am 
shouting,  thankful,  and  hope  to  praise  God  for  in  heaven 
forever,  it  is  the  fact  that  God  did  not  let  me  die  in  my  sins. 
It  is  the  fact  that  in  and  through  the  abounding  mercy  and 
grace  of  God  I  was  brought  to  see  myself  and  repent  of  my 
sins  and  make  peace  with  God  before  I  went  hence  and  was 
no  more  among  men. 

A  prisoner  without  hope ! 
Oh,  me!  Have  you  ever  shaken  hands  with  a  man  who 
this  moment  is  a  prisoner  without  hope  forever?  I  stood 
under  the  tent  at  St.  Joseph  and  said  on  one  occasion,  "  I  am 
preaching  now  the  funeral  sermon  of  some  soul  in  this  con- 
gregation. I  feel  in  my  blood  and  bones  that  some  man  is 
rejecting  his  last  chance  to  make  peace  w^th  God.''  And  in 
less  than  ten  days  from  that  hour  a  young  man  who  sat  in 
that  congregation  and  heard  the  words  of  my  lips,  stagger- 
ed and  fell  in  a  drunken  spree,  and  dropped  dead  on  the 
streets  of  St.  Joe  !  Oh  God  !  help  that  man  who  is  to  pass 
out  of  time  first!  God  help  him  to  be  prepared!  And  just 
as  certain  as  we  are  gathered  in  this  hall  to-night  God  has 
thrown  this  revival  meeting  in  your  pathway,  and  has 
thrown  all  this  between  you  and  that  estate  where  you  will 
be  a  prisoner  without  hope  forever! 

A    SAD    STORY. 

I  have  often  thought  of  the  experience  and  incident  of  a 
young  man,  vigorous  and  healthy  and  strong,  raised  by 
pious  parents,  who  on  his  dying  couch  sent  for  his  pastor. 
The  pastor  was  a  personal  friend  of  his,  and  when  he  walked 
into  the  room  and  saw  his  sunken  condition,  the  poor  boy 
looked  up  in  the  preacher's  face  and  said  :  ''  I  have  sent  for 
you,  but  not  to  pray  for  me.  I  have  given  all  my  life  to  sin 
and  worldliness,  and  I  hnve  not  courage  now  to  turn  over 
the  poor  dying  man  to  God  ;  and,"  said  he,  *'  I  have  not  sent 
for  you  to  pray,  but  7  \ave  sent  for  you  that  I  might  give 


Prisoners  of  Hope  and  Prisoners  of  Despair.  179 

you  a  message  to  my  friends  at  my  funeral  service,  and/' 
said  he,  "I  want  you  to  tell  my  friends  at  my  funeral  that  I 
am  dying  a  lost  man,  and  lost  forever.     But  tell  them  that 
if  any  man  had  slapped  me  on  the  shoulder  ten  years  ago,  and 
said:  ^Tom,  ten  years  from  to-day  you  will  be  dying  with- 
out religion,' I  would  have  told  him  :  ^o,  sir.     I  had  a  good 
mother.     I  have  a  respect  for  religion,  and  I  intend  to  give 
my  heart  to  God.'     And,"  said  he,  "  if  any  man  had  slapped^ 
me  on   the  shoulder  twelve  months  ago  and  said:  ^Tom,' 
twelve  months  from  to-day  you  will  be  dying  without  re 
ligion,'  I  would  have  looked  the  man  in  the  face,  and  said 
^  You  don't  know  me;  I  will  never  die   without  religion 
my  purposes  are  fixed  to  seek  and  obtain  religion  before  I 
die.'"     Said  he:  ^'  If  a  man  ten  days  ago  had  said  to  me 
^Tom,  ten   days  from  now   you  will  be  dying  without  re 
ligion,' I  would  have  said  :  ^No,  sir;  you  don't  know  me; 
and,"  said  he — and  I  want  you  to  listen  to  this,  the  saddest 
thing  dying  man  ever  said — ''at  last;  at  last;  after  all  my 
mother's  prayers,  and  all  my  good  resolutions,  and  all  the 
means  that  have  been  brought  to  bear  upon  me,  at  last,  at 
last,  I  am  dying  without  religion."     And  that  is  the  saddest 
thing  mortal  man  ever  said  upon  his  dying  couch.    And  if 
you  die  to-night,  the  world  would  sit  around  your  corpse 
to-morrow  and  say:  "At  last!  at  last!  After  all  his  resolu- 
tions and  all  his  purposes,  he  died  without  religion."- 

THE   WILLFULLY   WICKED. 

But  there  is  another  class  of  prisoners  without  hope. 
Thank  God,  we  are  not  among  fallen  angels  !  Thank  God,  we 
are  not  among  the  dead !  There  is  another  class  of  prison-, 
ers  without  hope  :  and  that  is  the  men  and  women  of  this  city 
that  are  just  as  certain  to  be  damned  as  they  walk  the  streets 
of  this  city  to-day.  There  are  men  in  this  city  who  have  not 
heard  a  sermon  for  twenty  years;  there  are  men  in  this  city 
who  have  settled  it — "I  never  intend  to  hear  another ;"  there 
are  men  in  this  city  who  have  fenced,  effectually  fenced, 
their  souls  off  from  good,  and  thrown  around  them  bulwarks 
and  doors  that  the  grace  and  Spirit  of  God  can  never  pene- 
trate in  this  world.  And  when  I  walk  out  on  the  streets  of 
your  town  and  find  a  man  as  he  walks  the  street  that  has 
settled  it — "I  never  intend  to  rei^ent" — I  would  as  soon  shake 

12 


180  Prisoners  of  Ho^e  and  Prisoners  of  Despair. 

hands  with  a  dead  man  as  to  shake  hands  with  him.  He  is 
dead  to  all  that  could  lift  his  soul  to  God,  dead  to  all  that 
could  make  him  good  and  happy,  dead  to  all  that  could  save 
him  in  time,  and  dead  to  all  that  could  save  him  in  eternity. 
I  beg  you,  my  friend,  to-night  to  stop  a  moment  and  con- 
sider. Have  you  crossed  the  line?  Have  you  crossed  the 
line  from  beyond  which  no  soul  ever  returned  ? 

There  is  a  time,  I  know  not  when, 

A  place  I  know  not  where, 
The  Spirit  will  poise  his  golden  wings 

And  leave  me  in  despair. 

THE  DIVINE  DEAD  LINE. 

There  is  a  line  by  which  all  our  paths  are  crossed,  beyond 
which  Grod  himself  has  sworn  that  he  who  goes  is  lost. 

Grieve  not  the  Holy  Spirit  of  Grod,  whereby  ye  are  sealed  unto  the  day  of 
redemption. 

And  in  my  short  life  as  a  preacher,  I  want  to  tell  you  to- 
night I  have  seen  men  reject,  and  reject,  and  reject,  and  re- 
ject the  mercies  of  God,  until  I  have  almost  heard  the  gates 
of  mercy  close  in  their  faces  forever. 
A  prisoner  without  hope. 
Just  as  certain  as  he  breathes  he  is  a  doomed  man.  He 
never  will  repent.  The  chances  are  all  against  us.  The 
chances  are  all  against  us  now,  may  be.  Brother,  will  your 
heart  ever  be  as  tender  as  it  has  been  in  the  past  ?  Will  you 
ever  be  worked  up  under  gospel  truth  as  you  have  been  in 
the  past?  And  if,  after  all  your  tender  years  are  gone  and 
all  the  influences  of  your  youthful  days  fail  to  reach  jou, 
are  not  the  probabilities  to-night  that  you  never  will  repent, 
that  you  will  die  like  you  are,  "a  prisoner  without  hope?"' 
Ah,  me !  The  poet  said  : 

The  wretch  condemned  with  life  to  part, 

Still,  still  on  hope  relies, 
And  every  pang  that  rends  the  heart 
Bids  expectation  rise. 

But,  oh,  sir !  when  hope  dies  out  and  endless  despair  takes 
possession  of  the  soul,  oh,  sir,  then  I  ask  you,  what  is  there 
but  the  cry:  ''Oh,  miserable  me  !  which  way  shall  I  fly  ?  In- 
finite wrath!  infinite  despair ! 

Which  wav  I  13  v  is  hell ; 
Myself  am"  hell'" 


I^risoners  of  Hope  and  Prisoners  of  Despair,  181 

Oh,  sir!  the  soul  that  is  impenitent  gravitates  to  its  home, 
and  its  home  can  be  nowhere  else  except  in  the  perdition  of 
the  damned. 

A  prisoner  without  hope. 

I  wonder  if  there  is  a  man  here  listening  to  me  to-night 
that  you  could  not  move  him  with  the  gospel  and  the  thun- 
ders of  all  the  worlds  ?  if  there  are  men  here  to-night  who 
are  not  just  as  uninterested  in  what  I  say  as  if  they  had  no 
soul  to  save,  and  there  was  no  immortal  interest  at  stake? 
My  brother,  let  others  do  just  as  they  please,  and  let  others 
throw  away  their  time  and  their  souls,  but  let's  you  and  I 
make  our  peace  with  God,  and  our  calling  and  election  sure, 
so  that  when  we  fail  on  earth  we  may  secure  a  mansion  in  the 
skies. 

THE   PRISONERS   WITH   HOPE. 

But,  i  thank  God,  there  is  a  different  side  to  this  question, 
and  lee  us  consider  it  but  a  moment.  There  are  three  classes 
of  pHsoners  with  hope.  The  first  class  we  mentioned  are 
the  ff^ithful  men  and  women  of  the  Church  of  God,  striving, 
struggling,  day  after  day,  to  keep  the  commandments  of  God, 
and  love  and  serve  Him  with  all  their  heart.  Oh,  thank 
God,  there  are  many  of  this  class  in  the  City  of  St.  Louis. 
They  are  prisoners,  but,  thank  God,  prisoners  of  hope — pris- 
oners of  hope.  Every  good  man  that  walks  the  face  of  the 
earth  is  a  prisoner  of  hope,  and — 

Oh,  what  a  blessed  day  is  ours, 

While  here  on  earth  we  stay  ; 
We  more  than  taste  the  heavenly  joys, 

And  antedate  that  day. 

My  mother  was  once  a  prisoner  of  hope,  but  when  death 
cut  the  ligaments  that  bound  her  to  earth,  she  went  home  to 
God,  and  for  thirty  years  she  has  been  walking  the  golden 
streets,  one  of  God's  freemen  forever.  My  precious  father 
was  a  prisoner,  but,  thank  God!  a  prisoner  of  hope;  and 
when  at  last  he,  upon  his  dying  couch,  pushed  the  doctors 
back  from  his  bed,  he  overleaped  the  circle  of  loved  ones 
about  his  dying  couch,  and  above  star  and  moon  he  went 
until  he  overvaulted  the  very  throne  of  God  itself,  and  to- 
night he  walks  the  golden  streets,  a  child  of  God  and  a  free- 
man forever.  Thank  God  these  chains  will  not  last  always. 
Thank  God  these  temptations  are  not  forever.     Thank  God 


182  Prisoners  of  Hope  and  Prisoners  of  Despair, 

these  environments  will  not  last  further  than    the  grave! 
Bless  the  Lord,  O,  my  soul !     There  is  a  world 

Where  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling, 
And  the  weary  are  at  rest. 

We,  I  say,  are  bent  upon  that  gracious  home  up  beyond 
the  skies. 

HEAVENLY  CONSOLATION. 

I  never  se*e  a  wife  grow  pale  and  suffer  that  I  don't  bless 
m^^  Grod  there  is  a  country  where  no  wife  shall  ever  pale,  and 
where  no  sickness  shall  ever  come.  I  never  see  my  precious 
children  suffer  and  swing  like  the  pendulum  of  the  clock  be- 
tween life  and  death,  that  I  donH  thank  God  there  is  a  coun- 
try where  health  blossoms  forever  upon  the  cheek,  and  the 
light  of  life  shall  ever  sparkle  from  the  eyes  of  our  children. 
Oh,  thank  God!  there  is  a  world  of  freedom !  And  these 
faithful  Christians  are  on  their  way  to  the  world  where  free- 
dom shall  be  enjoyed  in  its  most  blessed  and  its  most  glor- 
ious sense.  Brother,  you  are  a  prisoner  of  hope,  and  as  long 
as  that  star  of  hope  shines  over  my  pathway  here  is  one  man 
that  is  ready  to  deny  himself  and  take  up  his  cross  and  fol- 
low Christ.  As  long  as  that  star  of  hope  shines  over 
my  pathway  I  am  ready  unto  every  good  word  and  work. 
As  long  as  that  star  shines  over  my  pathway,  like  St.  Paul 
I  will  throw  aside  everything,  and  count  it  nothing;  and 
neither  will  I  count  m}^  life  dear  unto  myself,  but  that  I  may 
run  with  patience  the  race  to  that  city  of  God  where  sickness 
and  sorrow  and  pain  and  death  are  felt  and  feared  no  more. 

Oh,  brother,  if  you  mean  that  a  man  shall  do  his  duty, 
shall  preach  the  gospel,  all  right ;  I  will  preach.  If  it  is  to 
pray,  I  will  pray ;  if  it  is  to  lead  the  devotions  of  my  home, 
I  will  do  that;  if  it  is  to  divide  my  last  cent  with  God  and 
the  poor,  I  will  do  that ;  if  it  is  anything,  if  it  is  everything. 
I  will  give  up  all  things  that  I  may  have  all  things  in  the 
sweet  by-and-by. 
A  prisoner  of  hope. 

Blessed  be  God!  There  is  an  assurance  in  every  man's  heart 
that  inspires  him  by  day  and  by  night. 

St.  Paul  said : 

That  blessed  hope! 
A  HOPEFUL  CLASS. 

Well,  thank  God,  there  is  another  class  of  prisoners  with 


Prisoners  of  Hope  and  Prisoners  of  Despair.  183 

hope.  Tliat  man  out  there  that  does  not  belong  to  any 
church,  but  he  stood  up  here  yesterday  afternoon  and  said, 
"  I  run  the  white  flag  up  ;  I  surrender  to  Grod,  I  want  to  be  a 
Christian. '*  Brother,  hear  me  to-night:  God  loves  the  mean- 
est man  in  St.  Louis,  just  like  God  loves  the  best  man  in  St. 
Louis.  Brother,  yonder  is  a  father  that  loves  a  son  with  all 
his  heart,  and  that  son  is  headed  to  a  drunkard's  grave. 
Does  that  father's  love  save  that  boy  from  the  drunkard's 
grave?  There  is  a  mother  with  all  her  affections  wrapped 
around  her  boy,  and  yet  he  drinks,  and  drinks,  and  drinks, 
until  at  last  he  leaps  out  from  the  presence  of  his  mother  in- 
to a  drunkard's  eternity,  and  that  mother  will  goto  his  grave 
twice  a  week,  acd  carry  flowers  and  plant  them  on  the  mound 
above  him,  and  bathe  the  dust  that  covers  his  body  in  her 
precious  tears ;  but  did  that  mother's  love  save  that  boy  from 
the  drunkard's  grave?  Neither  can  God's  love  save  his  son 
— you  and  me — unless  we  bring  ourselves  within  the  com- 
pass of  grace  and  let  Him  save  us. 

A    NOBLE    SURRENDER. 
A  prisoner  of  hope. 

That  man  who  has  in  his  heart  the  burning  desire  to  be  a 
Christian  is  a  prisoner  of  hope;  and  I  tell  you,  my  brother, 
the  man  who  says  to-night,  "I  surrender  to  God  ;  I  give  my 
life  to  him;  I  seek  the  cross  ;"  that  man  is  a  prisoner  of  hope; 
and  you  will  never  be  damned  if  you  will  follow  the  inspir- 
ation and  the  desire,  "  God  help  me  to  be  a  Christian." 

Oh,  brother,  there  are  many  men  in  this  house  to-night 
who  have  the  burning  desire  in  their  heart  to  be  good  men — 
and  some  to  be  good  women.  Well,  let  me  tell  you  that  every 
one  of  you  with  such  a  desire  in  your  heart,  every  one  of  you, 
if  you  foster  that  desire  and  follow  the  purpose  out,  God  will 
meet  you  with  peace  and  pardon,  and  you  by-and-by  shall  be 
a  free  man  forever. 

Friend,  let's  you  and  I  look  after  our  hearts  to-night.  Is 
there  down  in  our  souls  an  intense,  burning  desire  to  be  a 
Christian  ?  If  there  is,  let  us  surrender  to  that  desire  to-night 
and  say,  "  I  will  make  my  peace  with  God." 

And,  then  there  is  another  class  of  prisoners  with  hope, 
and  that  is,  those  men  and  women  who  have  not  made  up 
their  minds   at  all,  but  they  are  thinking  on  this   ques- 


184  I^risoners  of  Hope  and  Prisoners  of  Despair, 

tion.  Oh,  brother,  there  is  a  chance  there  that  yoii  may  be 
saved,  and  I  wish  every  poor  man  here  to-night,  with  the  de- 
sire in  his  heart  to  be  a  Christian,  I  wish  he  would  do  like 
Garfield — President  Garfield ;  when  they  probed  his  wounds, 
he  looked  at  the  doctors  and  said,  ''  Doctors,  is  there  any 
chance  for  my  life?''  The  doctors  answered  back,  "Yes, 
there  is  a  chance,"  and  Mr.  Garfield  said  :  "  Well,  I  will  take 
that  chance ;''  and  he  did,  and  wrestled  and  grappled  with 
death  for  three  long  months  as  no  hero  in  America,  perhaps, 
ever  did;  and  if  that  man  and  that  woman  will  take  the 
chance — a  chance  that  you  have  to-night — and  grapple  with 
it  with  all  your  ransomed  powers,  as  grandly  and  nobly  as 
Garfield  did  for  life,  then  I  say  to  you  it  will  issue  into  a 
bright,  happy,  joyous  experience  here,  and  heaven  in  the 
end.     Listen ! 

A    DIVINE    PROMISE    OF    REWARD. 

Turn  you  to  the  stronghold,  ye  prisoners  of  hope.    Even  to-Jay  I  do  declare 
I  will  render  double  unto  thee. 

Now  a  word  on  this  part.     Hear  me  ! 
I  will  render  double  unto  thee. 

A  great  many  people  think,  ''Well,  after  all,  lam  notready 
yet  to  seek  religion.  If  I  were  to  seek  religion  now  I  would 
have  to  give  up  everything,  and  just  live  a  poor,  sad,  grop- 
ing pauper  the  balance  of  my  life.''  Well,  you  never  made 
a  bigger  mistake  in  your  life.     Listen  : 

Even  to-day  do  I  declare  I  will  render  double  unto  thee. 

''Double."  I  never  read  that  passage  that  I  do  not  think 
of  the  incident  a  Church  brother  told  me  once.  He  said  there 
was  a  young  man  in  a  revival-meeting  he  was  carrying  on 
who  was  seeking  religion  earnestly  for  two  or  three  da3^?. 
One  day  he  walked  out  of  the  church  after  the  young  man 
and  said  to  him :  "You  are  in  earnest ;  you  are  in  earnest.  I 
cannot  see  why  you  are  not  blessed  and  saved."'  "Oh,"  said 
the  young  man,  "I  think  I  know  the  trouble.  Every  time  I 
go  to  the  altar  and  seek  God  on  my  knees,  this  fact  comes 
up  before  my  eyes:  I  clerk  in  a  grocery  store  that  retails 
liquor  by  the  quart  and  pint,  but  not  by  the  drink,  and  every 
time  I  kneel  down  and  pray,  the  fact  that  I  am  clerking  and 
selling  liquor  by  the  quart  and  pint  comes  up  before  me  and 
stops  my  prayers."    "Well,"  said  the  preacher,  "I  would  giv<> 


Prisoners  of  Mope  and  Prisoners  of  Despair 


185 


up  my  clerkship."  ''If  I  do,"  replied  the  young  man,  ''it 
looks  as  if  my  mother  and  sisters  will  starve.  My  mother 
is  a  widow,  and  my  sisters  are  orphans,  and  every  bite  they 
eat  comes  from  what  I  earn.    I  would  surrender  it  in  a  mo- 


A  Business  in  Which  a  Man  Cannot  Fray. 

ment  if  it  was  not  for  that."  ''Well,"  said  the  preacher, 
"trust  God  and  do  the  thing  you  ought  to  do,  my  brother." 
He  told  me  the  young  man  went  on  down  to  the  store  and 
told  his  employer:  "Sir,  I  have  been  seeking  religion  earn- 
estly, and  I  cannot  bo  pardoned ;  I  cannot  pray  as  long  as  I 
clerk  for  you  and  sell  whisky  in  this  house." 


186  Prisoners  of  Hope  and  Prisoners  of  Despair. 

Do  you  hear  this.  A  man  cannot  get  religion  and  sell 
whisky  at  the  same  time.  That  is  as  true  as  that  G-od  made 
this  world.  And  then  I  will  tell  you  another  thing:  A  man 
cannot  keep  it  (religion)  and  sell  it  (whisky).  A  man  can- 
not keep  it  and  drink  it.     Listen  to  me  a  minute. 

FOR    CATHOLICS. 

I  saw  in  a  paper  in  this  city  the  other  day  a  boast  that 
this  was  a  Catholic  city  and  not  a  Protestant  citj^  I  deny 
it.  With  all  my  heart,  I  deny  it.  A  Catholic  city !  You 
may  know  and  I  know  a  man  is  a  Catholic  by  his  cross. 
What  is  the  cross  an  emblem  of?  Purity,  holiness,  right- 
eousness. And  3^ou  tell  me  that  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  foundation  stone  of  all  the  devilment  and  whisky  drink- 
ing and  corruption  of  this  city !  It  is  a  lie  as  black  as  hell, 
I  do  not  care  who  said  it.  The  grand  old  Catholic  Church 
will  never  father  the  corruption  and  guilt  there  is  in  this 
city.  When  I  see  the  sisters  of  charity  going  forth  on  their 
errands  of  mercy  and  goodness,  and  when  I  look  to  the 
noble  priests  and  the  popes  and  bishops  of  the  Catholic 
Church  who  teach  us  the  purest  morals  and  would  lead  us 
closest  with  Christ,  I  will  not  let  any  man  say  this  is  a 
Catholic  city.  It  is  a  lie.  I  wish  the  city  were  that,  or 
something  else  that  would  make  the  people  qnit  their  mean- 
ness. I  do.  And  if  the  Catholic  Church  willtake  St.  Louis 
and  redeem  her  from  her  bar-rooms  and  her  lewd  houses, 
and  her  Sabbath-breaking  and  her  corruption,  I  will  put  on 
my  hat  and  turn  the  city  over  to  the  Catholic  Church  and 
say,  "  In  Christ's  name  bring  her  to  Christ."  I  am  not  here 
to  fight  the  Catholic  Church.  God  bless  the  Catholic  Church 
and  help  her  to  be  pure  and  holy  every  day  and  every- 
where! God  bless  the  Catholic  Church  just  in  proportion 
as  she  is  pure  and  holy  and  good,  as  she  represents  the  em- 
blem of  the  cross  she  bears. 

AN  IDEA  FROM  CHICAGO. 

I  want  to  read  this  article.     I  want  you  to  learn  it 

Chicago,  November  3. — The  Chicago  Reformed  Alliance  are  about  to  take 
measures  to  have  the  saloons  closed  on  Sundays.  The  City  Government  will  not 
be  asked  to  take  any  action  in  this  movement,  the  method  proposed  being  to 
prosecute  all  offenders  against  the  State  law  known  as  the  Dram  Shop  Act,  which 
prohibits  the  opening  of  saloons  on  Sunday  under  a  penalty  of  $200  for  the 
first  and  second  offence,  and  a  term  in  the  Penitentiary  for  the  third.    A  num- 


Prisoners  of  Hope  and  Prisoners  of  Despair.  187 

ber  of  prominent  lawyers  have  volunteered  their  services  for  the  prosecution  of 
offenders.  Among  a  number  of  saloons  visited  yesterday  by  the  committee  but 
one  was  found  closed,  and  to-day  indictments  will  be  found  against  a  few  of 
the  offenders.  One  of  the  members  of  the  committee  said  there  would  bono 
trouble  with  the  first-class  saloons. 

Hear  that.  Well,  I  reckon  hell  itself  is  graded  somehow. 
^'The  first-class  saloons!" 

One  of  the  members  of  the  committee  stated  that,  there  would  be  no  trouble 
with  first-class  saloons,  as  the  owners  seemed  perfectly  willing  to  close  up  on 
Sunday. 

Brother,  let  mo  say  to  you  this  :  Old  Missouri  on  her  sta- 
tute book  has  promulgated  a  law  that  forbids  the  sale  of 
liquor  on  Sunday,  and  I  want  to  tell  you  that  the  question, 
*'How  men  sworn  to  execute  the  law  can  let  this  city  be  de- 
bauched with  Sunday  saloons?"  is  a  question  deeper  than  I 
have  power  to  probe  into.  If  you  will  elect  me  Governor 
of  this  State — and  you  could  not  run  after  me  fast  enough  to 
give  it  to  me — I  have  something  better  than  that;  but  if  I 
were  elected  Governor  of  this  State,  I  would  not  sleep  three 
hours  a  night  until  I  saw  that  the  laws  of  my  State  were  en- 
forced. Thank  God,  Georgia  has  a  Governor  who  is  one 
of  the  most  pious  men  in  our  State.  He  loves  Jesus  Christ. 
He  is  an  earnest  deacon  in  the  Baptist  Church.  The  Chief 
Justice  of  our  Supreme  Court  will  pray  all  night  around  the 
altar  with  a  penitent.  Our  judges  and  men  in  authority  love 
God  and  are  moral  men. 

SWILL-TUB  GOVERNORS  AND  MASH-TUB  JUDGES. 

How  can  you  reform  any  State  in  God  Almighty^s  world 
with  an  old  swill-tub  for  a  Governor  and  two  or  three  old  mash- 
tubs  for  Supreme  Judges.  A  man  who  is  privately  corrupt 
can  never  be  politically  pure,  and  the  first  thing  we  did 
when  we  wanted  to  reform  Georgia  was  to  put  God-fearing 
and  good  men  in  authority,  and,  by,  the  grace  of  God,  we 
have  the  best  State  in  the  United  States  of  America.  You 
run  a  freight  train  through  Georgia  on  Sunday,  and  the  con- 
ductor and  the  brakesmen  and  the  whole  crew  employed  on 
the  train  will  sleep  in  jail  that  night.  And  you  open  a  bar- 
room in  our  State  on  Sunday  and  you  will  sleep  in  jail  that 
night.  "We  have  a  God  and  a  Sunday  in  Georgia,  and  they 
are  as  precious  to  us  as  our  wives  and  our  children. 
To-day  do  I  declare  I  will  render  double. 


188  Prisoners  of  Hope  and  Prisoners  of  JDesjyair. 

Now  there  is  no  malice  aforethought  in  what  I  have  just 
said  on  this  tangent,  but  I  say  this  about  selling  whisky: 
'No  man  can  be  a  Christian  and  sell  whisky.  I  hope  to  God 
Almighty  the  grand  old  Catholic  Church  will  turn  every 
barrel  and  every  demijohn  out  of  the  whole  concern.  I 
hope  the  grand  old  Methodist  and  Presbyterian  and  Baptist 
Churches  will  touch  not,  and  taste  not,  and  handle  not  the 
men  who  sell  it  or  the  men  who  drink  it. 

A   TEMPERANCE    STORY. 

That  boy  of  whom  I  was  speaking  told  his  employers,  '^  I 
can  not  stay  any  longer  with  you.'^  They  said,  '*  Well,  we 
are  sorry  to  give  you  up.  You  have  been  a  good  boy  since 
you  have  been  with  us."  And  they  paid  him  off.  They 
were  paying  him  $50  a  month.  That  boy  went  back  to  the 
services  and  surrendered  his  heart  to  God.  And  he  went 
home  and  lifted  up  his  heart  to  God.  The  next  morning,just 
after  breakfast,  he  received  a  note  from  his  old  employers. 
He  went  down  to  their  store,  and  they  said,  "Walk  into  the 
liquor-room  that  was.'^  He  walked  in,  and  he  saw  that 
every  barrel  had  been  rolled  out;  and  they  said  to  him,  "We 
have  closed  out  that  part  of  the  business,  and  if  you  will 
come  back  and  clerk  for  us  again  we  will  give  you  $100  a 
month. '^ 

To-day  do  I  declare  I  will  render  double  unto  thee. 

1^0  man  ever  lost  anything  by  surrendering  a  wrong  and 
giving  his  life  to  God.  No,  sir.  Well,  some  man  in  the 
house  may  say,  "I  do  not  believe  your  anecdote."  But  lean 
tell  you  one  a  heap  bigger  than  that.  Fourteen  years  ago — 
my  brethren  of  the  ministry,  hear  me — fourteen  years  ago  I 
gave  my  life  and  heart  and  all  to  God  and  entered  into  his 
service;  and  I  read  in  that  book — and  I  thought  it  was  a  big 
statement — 

If  3'ou  will  forsake  houses  and  lands  and  all  to  follow  me,  T  will  give  you 
one-hundred  fold  more  in  this  life,  and  everlasting  life  in  the  world  to  come. 

Well,  I  took  God  at  his  word.  When  I  started  out  to  fol- 
low God,  I  left  our  little  home  in  Cartersville ;  but,  blessed 
be  God,  he  has  given  me  one  hundred  homes  wherever  I 
have  gone — just  as  good  as  homes  could  be.  And  I  left  one 
mother — a  gracious  stepmother  she  was  to  me — I  left  her  to 
follow  Christ;   and,  bless  his  holy  name,  he  has  given  me 


Prisoners  of  Hope  and  Prisoners  of  Despair,  189 

one  thousand  mothers  wherever  I  have  gone  who  have  been 
as  good  to  nie  as  my  own  precious  mother.  I  left  a  few 
friends  in  my  own  home  to  follow  Christ;  but,  blessed  be  God, 
he  has  given  me  one  thousand  friends  for  every  one  I  have 
left.  And,  blessed  be  God,  I  have  now  one  thousand-fold 
more  in  this  life,  and  the  bright  hope  of  everlasting  life  in 
the  world  to  come.  God  help  every  man  here  to-night  to 
say,  I  will  turn  to  the  stronghold  !  I  will  be  a  Christian  !  I 
will  give  myself  to  God  ! 

AN  APPEAL  TO  THE  PROFESSORS. 

Now,  as  we  are  going  to  dismiss  this  service  in  a  moment, 
brethren,  I  wish  to  say,  I  have  been  here  a  week  preaching, 
praying,  doing  the  best  in  my  poor  humble  way,  with  a 
thousand  faults  and  a  thousand  mistakes.  I  know  it.  I 
know  it.  I  know  it.  I  need  sympathy  and  the  mercy  of  God 
for  myself.  But,  brethren,  will  you  be  honest  with  God? 
Will  every  member  of  every  church  who  sits  before  me  to- 
night—  and  only  members  of  some  church — how  many  of 
you  will  stand  up  to-night  and  say  :  "  God  helping  me,  I  in- 
tend to  be  loyal  to  my  vows.  I  intend  to  help  to  win  the 
w^orld  to  Christ  by  a  faithful,  earnest  life  and  make  my  way 
to  heaven.  I  am  going  to  work  out,  under  this  star  of  hope, 
my  salvation,  with  fear  and  trembling?''  Brethren,  I  say 
not  now  what  your  past  life  has  been.  But  listen  a  moment. 
I  want  to  talk  for  myself  a  moment.  Brethren,  whatever 
may  have  been  my  past,  I  feel  like  standing  up  and  saying 
with  you:  '*0h,  God  !  If  I  have  never  done  it  before,  right 
here  and  now  I  give  myself  to  thee  from  head  to  foot, 
through  and  through,  soul  and  body,  for  time  and  eternity.'' 
How  many  of  you  brethren  in  Christ  of  all  Churches  will 
stand  up  a  minute  with  me  and  say,  "  That  is  my  honest  con- 
viction ;  I  give  myself  wholly  to  God?"  Now  every  ©ne 
that  feels  that  way  stand  up. 

THE  PENITENTS. 

Well,  thank  God.  What  a  host.  Brethren,  let  us  keep  our 
vows  and  do  our  duty.  Now,  please  be  seated  a  moment.  I 
am  going  to  ask  every  man — you  see  what  we  have  done — 
I  am  going  to  ask  that  every  man  not  a  member  of  any 
Church,  not  a  professor  of  religion,  will  stand  up.  Oh,  fath- 
ers, we  cannot  afford  to  be  wicked  and  wayward.  Boys  with 


190  Prisoners  of  Hope  and  Prisoners  of  Despair, 

good  mothers,  boys  with  good  fathers,  you  cannot  afford  to 
be  wicked  and  wayward.  Brethren,  how  many  of  you,  not 
members  of  any  Church  will  stand  up  and  say,  honestly,  "  I 
want  to  be  a  Christian.  I  want  to  be  a  good  man.  I  want  to 
seek  God.  I  want  the  prayers  of  all  this  people  V  Now,  my 
friend,  will  you  be  honest  with  your  soul  and  with  your- 
self? I  trust  every  inan  not  a  Christian  will  stand  up  in  his 
place  for  a  moment  and  say — and  having  said  it,  stand  by  it 
forever — '' I  want  to  be  a  Christian.  I  want  to  do  right;  I 
want  to  find  my  way  to  heaven.^'  How  many  in  this  house, 
in  the  gallery  or  anywhere  will  stand  up  and  say,  ''  It  is  true 
from  the  depths  of  my  heart,  I  want  to  be  a  Christian?"  Now, 
let  every  one  not  a  member  of  a  church  stand  up.  Will  you 
stand?  [Some  fifty  persons  rose.]  Thatisright.  Thank  God! 
Thank  God  !  Evcr^^where  over  the  house,  stand  up,  and  stand 
a  moment!  That  is  right.  Thank  God!  Thank  God  !  JSTow 
in  a  moment  we  are  going  to  pronounce  the  benediction,  and 
will  every -person  here — you  who  stood  \\^  and  you  who  did 
not  stand  up — if  you  are  not  a  Christian,  wiien  the  congre- 
gation passes  out,  stay  here  about  five  minutes,  and  let  us 
talk  over  this  eternal  question?  Oh,  this  is  business  for  eter- 
nity ?  Won't  you  stay  with  us  a  few  minutes  ?  Gather  here 
in  front  after  the  congregation  passes  out,  and  let  you  and  I 
talk  a  little  on  this  question  to-night.  These  preachers  will 
help  you.  If  you  have  yonr  wife  along  she  will  come  with 
you.  If  you  have  friends  along,  your  friends  will  come  with 
you.  Let  every  soul  not  a  Christian  come  to  the  front  after 
the  congregation  passes  out.  Pray  God  to-night  that  you 
may  all  profess  the  precious  hope  that  you  may  be  saved 
for  time  and  eternity.  Blessed  God,  abide  with  us  now 
and  forever.     Amen. 


.  / 


^EI^MON  XL 


'hile  this  damp  night  is  keeping  many  away,  let  us  who 
are  here  be  earnest  and  prayerful.  I  have  scarcely 
ever  seen  a  rainy  night  during  revival  meetings  that  they 
were  not  better  than  any  other  nights  of  the  meeting  in  re- 
sults and  in  blessings  upon  the  congregation.  I  naturally 
take  it  for  granted  this  congregation  is  in  earnest,  that  you 
are  here  for  good.  And  now  let  us  be  prayerful  and  let  us 
expect,  each  of  us,  for  himself,  just  such  a  blessing  on  our 
hearts  as  we  need.  If  it  is  a  blessing  of  consecration  on  the 
partof  Christian  people,  let  us  expect  that,  and  let  us  not  be 
satisfied  to  go  away  without  it.  If  it  is  of  pardon,  justifica- 
tion, peace — if  that  is  the  sort  of  blessing  we  are  seeking, 
let  us  look  for  it  to-nigh{,  and  let  us  not  go  away  satisfied 
without  it. 

SAVING    HIS    TEXT    FOR    THE    ENDING. 

It  is  usually  customary  for  a  preacher  to  announce  his 
text  and  then  discuss  it.  We  generally  read  our  text  and 
then  expound  it.  But,  without  any  purpose  or  desire  to  be 
singular  or  odd  in  this  case,  I  shall  first  preach  the  sermon 
and  then  read  the  text,  because  this  text  is  the  answer  to  the 
question  I  want  you  to  spend  thirty  minutes  with  me  in  dis- 
cussing. 

This  is  a  wonderful  old  book  from  which  we  get  our  text. 
It  goes  back  to  the  beginning  of  all  things,  and  forward  to 
the  end  of  all  things.  In  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  I  read 
of  my  own  origin  and  the  origin  of  all  creation,  and  I  read 
how  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  first  da}^  and  the 
second  day,  and  how  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  day  the  sons  of 
Grod  and  the  angels  shouted  over  a  finished  world.  One 
chapter  of  this  book  is  devoted  to  my  origin,  and  the  thou- 
sand chapters  which  follow  warn  me  of  my  destiny.  God 
devotes  one  chapter  of  this  book,  one  page  of  the  book,  to 
191 


192  The  Dangers  of  Delay, 

telling  me  whence  I  come,  and  all  the  other  warnings  and  all 
the  other  rebukes  and  promises  and  precepts  of  his  word  are 
but  so  many  index  fingers  pointing  into  the  great  hereafter, 
warning  me  of  my  destiny. 

I  believe  there  is  but  one  thing  condemned  in  this  book, 
and  that  is  sin,  and  sin  is  the  only  thing  in  the  universe  of 
God  that  can  permanently  harm  a  soul.  Disappointment 
may  sadden  me.  Yexation  and  cares  may  worry  me,  and  a 
thousand  environments  of  earth  may  fret  me.  But  there  is 
but  one  thing  that  can  permanently  damage  the  soul,  and 
that  is  sin.  And  really,  I  don't  need  any  enlightenment 
from  this  book  or  the  pulpit  to  teach  me  that  sin  will  do  its 
greatest  work  on  character,  on  the  soul ;  on  my  present,  on 
my  future  destiny.  And  if  it  is  sin  that  all  the  cannon  of 
heaven  are  turned  loose  upon ;  if  it  is  sin  that  G-od  would 
not  have  us  commit;  if  it  is  sin  that  heaven  frowns  upon, 
and  that  perdition  itself  would  have  us  commit ;  if  it  is  sin — 
then  I  stop  and  ask  this  question  : 

Why  will  you  continue  in  sin? 

SALVATION    A   PERSONAL    MATTER. 

Now  we  notice  a  moment  or  two  the  words  of  this  ques- 
tion.    They  are  very  simple  and  yet  they  are  very  forcible. 

Why  will  you  continue  in  sin? 

Salvation  is  a  personal  matter.  Damnation  is  a  personal 
matter.  I  can  get  no  one  to  die  for  me ;  no  one  to  be  buried 
in  my  stead;  no  one  to  stand  before  God  in  my  place;  no 
one  to  pass  into  glory  in  my  stead  ;  no  one  to  be  damned  in 
my  place.  Salvation  is  pre-eminently  a  personal  matter. 
Damnation  is  also  pre-eminently  a  personal  matter.  I  am 
saved,  if  saved  at  all,  thank  God,  in  myself  and  for  myself. 
Iflamlost,  it  is  I  that  am  lost;  and  if  every  other  man 
should  make  his  way  to  God,  I  am  shut  up  to  the  conscious- 
ness that  heaven's  door  is  closed  in  my  face  and  that  I 
personally  am  shut  up  in  hell  forever.  Men  sin  in  groups, 
and  go  in  schools,  and  run  with  the  multitude,  but  judgment 
is  personal.  Salvation  is  personal.  You  and  I,  if  we  walk 
into  glory,  will  walk  in  just  as  personally  and  as  really  as 
if  we  were  the  only  ones  that  left  this  earth  for  a  better 
world.  If  we  are  damned,  we  shall  be  damned  as  personally 
as  if  we  were  the  only  men  that  the  sentence  of  God  should 


The  Dangers  of  Delay.  193 

fest  upon  through  all  eternity.     And  this  question  means 
something. 

THE   QUESTION    NARROWED   DOWN. 

Why  will  you? — not  why  will  the  church;  not  why  will 
the  preachers  ;  not  why  will  the  cities  ;  not  why  will  the 
States;  but  why  will  you,  you,  you?  I  don't  mean  the  man 
in  front  of  you  or  that  one  behind  you,  nor  the  one  to  your 
right  or  your  left.  I  mean  you  !  you  !  Why  will  you  con- 
tinue in  sin? 

Now,  recollect:  I  don't  ask  you  how  it  is  you  have  lived 
in  sin  up  to  this  hour.  I  don't  ask  you  how  it  happened 
that  you  were  born  a  sinner.  That  might  involve  a  theolog- 
ical discussion  that  you  and  I  haven't  the  capacity  to  go 
into.  I  don't  ask  why  you  have  continued  to  live  in  sin  up 
to  this  moment.  That  is  a  question  that  might  involve  ex- 
culpatory statements  on  your  part  that  I  have  neither  time 
nor  disposition  to  listen  to.  The  question,  plainly  put,  is 
not  why  you  have  come  into  this  hall  to-night  a  sinner,  nor 
why  you  were  born  in  sin,  but  why  will  you  go  from  this 
hall  in  rebellion  against  God  and  to  lead  another  hour  of  a 
life  of  sin  ?     That's  the  question. 

Now  some  people  think  that  sin  is  a  something  that  floats 
around  in  the  atmosphere.  Some  people  think  sin  is  a  roar- 
ing lion  going  about  seeking  whom  it  may  devour.  But  sin 
is  not  something  in  the  atmosphere  around,  and  sin  is  not  a 
roaring  lion  on  our  track.  Sin  is  an  act  committed.  It  is  a 
deed  done.  It  is  a  word  spoken.  ''  Sin,"  said  the  apostle,  "  is 
transgressing  the  law" — doing  something  that  you  ought 
not  to  do  and  which  you  know  you  ought  not  to  do.  It  is 
saying  something  that  you  ought  not  to  say  and  which  you 
know  you  ought  not  to  say.  It  is  the  living  of  a  life  of  re- 
bellion against  God,  and  the  doing  of  those  things  that  God 
forbids,  and  the  leaving  undone  those  things  that  God  com- 
mands we  should  do.     Now,  the  question  plainly  put  is : 

Why  will  you  lead  this  life,  and  continue  doing  and  saying 
those  things,  and  neglecting  these  things?     Why  will  you? 

THE   PLEA   OF   IGNORANCE   OF    SIN. 

Now  we  answer  first  for  you:  Is  it  because  you  are  ignor- 
ant of  what  sin  is?  Can  any  man  in  this  house  say,  "I  don't 
know  that  it  is  wrong  to  swear,  and  wrong  to  drink,  and 


194  The  Dangers  of  Delay. 

wrong  to  lie,  and  wrong  to  rebel,  and  wrong  to  live  in  dark- 
ness when  light  is  proffered ''?  Can  any  man  say  that?  Can 
any  man  raised  in  the  land  of  Bibles  look  God  and  angels  in 
the  face  and  say,  "  The  reason  I  live  here  an  impenitent  sin- 
ner is  because  I  don't  know  what  sin  is^'?  Will  3^011  say 
that?  Have  you  never  read  in  that  book,  ''  Thou  shalt  not 
take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain^'?  Have  you 
never  read  in  that  book,  '^  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  wit- 
ness ^'?  Have  you  never  read,  "Remember  the  Sabbath 
Day  to  keep  it  holy"?  Have  3'ou  never  read:  "He  that 
breaketh  the  least  commandment  is  guilty  of  all"?  Then  I 
ask  you,  friend,  can  you  say  now,  or  ever,  that  the  reason 
you  leave  here  impenitent  to-night  is  because  you  don't 
know  what  sin  is  ?     Will  you  say  that? 

Do  3"ou  know  that  every  sinner  in  this  land  stands  self- 
convicted  on  that  proposition  ?  There's  not  a  sinner  in  this 
city  that  hasn't  for  years  been  criticising  the  life  of  the 
Church,  and  you  know  that  every  criticism  of  your  lips  on 
the  life  of  a  member  of  the  Church  is  incontestable  proof 
that  you  know  what  right  is,  and  that  you  know  what  wrong 
is.  You  won't  suffer  these  members  of  the  Church  to  do 
wrong,  and  when  they  do  wrong  you  speak  of  it,  and  point 
the  finger  of  scorn  at  them. 

The  fact  of  the  business  is,  the  Church  ought  to  live  up  to 
the  world's  standard  of  character;  and  my  highestaspira- 
tion  in  this  life  is  for  all  of  us  to  come  up  to  where  the  world 
knows  and  says  we  ought  to  get  up  to.  That's  it.  These 
sinners  don't  permit  us  to  do  wrong.  If  we  do  wrong  they 
say:  "That  isn't  right!  You've  promised  to  do  right."  Oh, 
brother,  don't  let  the  Church's  standard  of  righteousness 
be  lower  than  the  standard  that  sinners  have  raised  for  us! 

WRONG  FOR  PROFESSORS,  WRONG  FOR  SINNERS. 

Yes,  but  you  say,  "I  know  it  is  wrong  for  the  members  of 
the  Church  to  do  that  way,  but  is  it  wrong  for  us?  Look 
here,  friend  !  I  have  got  as  much  right  to  get  drunk  to-night 
after  service  as  any  man  in  this  house,  God  being  judge,  you 
see.  I  have  just  as  much  right  to  go  and  gamble  to-night  till 
3  o'clock  in  the  morning  as  any  man  in  this  house  has,  God 
being  judge.  I  have  just  as  much  right  to  tell  a  lie  to-night 
when  I  am  through  preaching  as  any  man  in  the  house  has 


The  Dangers  of  Delay,  195 

to  tell  a  lie,  God  being  judge.  I  wonder  who  gave  you  per- 
mission to  do  wrong.  And  the  biggest  mistake  in  this  uni- 
verse is  for  a  man,  simply  because  he  don't  belong  to  the 
Church,  to  imagine  that  Grod  has  given  him  license  to  do 
wrong.  God  doesn^t  lookuj^on  sin  with  the  least  allowance, 
and  *'the  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die,"  whether  in  the 
Church  or  out.  The  only  difference  between  men  in  the 
Church  and  men  out  of  the  Church  is,  one  class  acknowledge 
its  obligations  to  live  right  and  the  other  does  not.  That's 
all.  You  are  under  as  many  obligations  to  God  and  right, 
to  be  and  to  do  good,  as  I  am.  Doesn't  God  feed  you  and 
clothe  you  and  care  for  you,  and  doesn't  his  sun  shine  upon 
the  just  and  the  unjust  alike,  and  hasn't  the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  been  poured  out  for  you  just  like  it  has  been  poured 
out  for  me  ?  I  have  as  much  right  to  do  wrong  as  any  man 
in  the  world,  if  you  let  God  be  judge. 

A  WHOLESOME  DIFFERENCE. 

I  know  it  looks  worse  for  a  member  of  the  Church  to  do 
wrong,  and  I'll  tell  you  why.  The  difference  between  a 
member  of  the  Church  and  that  sinner  out  of  the  Church  is 
this:  that  member  of  the  Church  is  like  a  white  piece  of  can- 
vas, and  jow.  sprinkle  any  kind  of  mud  or  dirt  on  a  white 
piece  of  canvas  and  it  shows  very  plainly;  and  that's  the 
member  of  the  Church.  But  you  take  an  old,  dirty,. grimy 
piece  of  canvas,  and  jou  can  just  rub  anything  you  want  to 
on  it,  and  it  don't  show  at  all.  And  that's  just  the  difference 
between  a  member  of  the  Church  and  an  old  sinner  out  of  it. 

If  I  were  to  go  down  to-night  and  get  drunk,  or  if  I  were 
to  get  drunk  on  the  streets  of  St.  Louis  to-morrow,  the  tele- 
graph wires  of  the  country  would  catch  it  up,  and  it  would 
be  telegraphed  all  over  the  face  of  the  Union,  "Mr.  Jones 
is  in  St.  Louis  drunk." 

But  there's  many  an  old  red-nosed  fellow  in  this  town  gets 
drunk  every  day,  and  nobody  pays  any  more  attention  to 
it  thnn  they  do  to  the  sun  shining.  You  see  that's  the  dif- 
ference between  a  gentleman  and  a  vagabond  ! 

If  I  were  to  step  out  on  the  street  to-morrow  and  swear 
and  profane  the  name  of  God,  the  newspapers  would  catch 
it  up  and  declare  that  I  was  blaspheming  on  the  streets  of 
this  city.     But  there  are  ten  thousand  black-mouthed  swear- 

13 


196  The  Dangers  of  Delay. 

ers  in  this  town  who  profane  the  name  of  God  everyday  up- 
on the  streets,  and  people  pay  no  attention  whatever  to  them. 
Now,  that's  just  the  difference  between  a  gentleman  and  a 
vagabond!     Dont't  you  see? 

\ 

A  DISTINCTION  IN  THINGS. 

I'm  glad  this  world  makes  distinctions.  There  are  some  of 
you  can't  walk  down  street  but  some  vagabond  will  say  to 
you,  ''Come  in  and  take  a  drink  with  me."  But  I  can  walk 
these  streets  ten  years  and  nobody  will  ever  ask  me  to  take 
a  drink.     Don't  you  see  ? 

This  world  knows  w^ho's  who.  I'm  so  glad  this  world  will 
let  a  gentleman  pass  on  and  let  him  alone. 

And  whenever  a  man  asks  you  to  take  a  drink  with  him 
in  these  bar-rooms  down  here,  he's  got  you  down  in  his 
book  as  a  vagabond,  and  he  ain't  missing  it  much,  either. 
You  can  put  that  down.  I  know  the  sort  I  used  to  ask  when 
I  drank.  I  know  how  I  had  them  down,  and  I  never  mis- 
put  a  fellow,  for  I  had  him  down  right  every  time.  Why,  there 
were  gentlemen  down  in  Cartersville  whom  I  would  never  let 
see  me  go  into  a  grocery,  muchness  ask  them  in.  And  I  am 
glad  that  a  man  never  gets  so  but  what  he  respects  virtue  and 
sobriety  and  goodness. 

No  man  here  to-night  can  look  the  preacher  in  the  face 
and  say,  ''The  reason  I  live  here  a  sinner  is  because  I  don't 
know  what  sin  is." 

We  know  wrong  is  wrong  and  right  is  right.  We  know 
we  ought  not  to  do  wrong,  and  we  know  we  ought  to  do 
right. 

PLEADING  IGNORANCE  OP  CONSEQUENCES. 

Well,  then,  I  ask  you  again,  Is  it  because  you  are  ignorant 
of  the  consequences  of  sin?  Willyousay  that  ?  Is  there  a  man 
here  who  never  read  in  that  book,  "The  wicked  shall  be 
turned  into  hell?  - 

But  you  say,  forsooth,  "  There  is  no  hell."  I  know  the 
cry  of  this  nineteenth  century  is,  "  There  is  no  hell;"  and 
I  am  sorry  to  see  that  in  this  land,  where  men  have  sworn 
eternal  allegiance  to  that  book,  there  is  not  one  preacher  in 
twenty  to-day  that  will  stand  up  and  preach  hell  as  that 
book  asserts  it.  Of  course  the  preachers  in  St.  Louis  do, 
but  I  am  speaking  of  preachers  elsewhere.  They  won't  doit. 


The  Dangers  of  Delay,  197 

"Why,  it  is  considered  vulgar  now,  really  vulgar,  for  a  man 
to  get  up  and  preach  hell  to  sinners.  Don't  you  know  that 
it  is  so  ?  And  I  want  to  say  to  you  this  :  I  will  take  the  re- 
cords of  the  Church  of  God,  and  every  preacher  that  had 
power  with  God  and  influence  with  men,  and  that  brought 
thousands  to  Christ,  every  one  of  them — I  run  back,  and  I 
will  take  Bunyan,  and  I  will  take  "Whitfield,  and  I  will  take 
Jonathan  Edwards,  and  I  will  take  Charles  G.  Finney,  and 
I  will  take  your  own  leading  evangel  ist  in  America,  Dwight  L. 
Moodj^  I  will  take  C.  H.  Spurgeon  in  London  ;  and  every 
man  that  had  power  with  God  and  influence  with  men  be- 
lieved in  a  real,  genuine,  Scrij)tural,  brimstone  hell !  Kow, 
what  do  you  say  ? 

NOT  POLITE  TO  BELIEVE  IN  HELL. 

It  is  not  polite  to  believe  that  way  and  many  a  little  fel- 
low has  scratched  that  out  of  his  creed  •  but  he  wonH  be  in 
hell  more  than  fifteen  minutes  before  he  will  revise  his  creed 
and  have  nothing  in  it  but  hell;  he  will  scratch  out  all  the 
rest.  I  am  sorry  for  a  fellow  fooling  away  his  time  that 
way.  And  I  want  to  say  to  you  to-night,  the  biggest  fool 
this  world  ever  saw  is  the  man  that  gets  in  the  biggest, 
broadest,  plainest  road  to  hell,  and  stops  on  the  way  trying 
to  persuade  people  that  there  is  no  such  a  place  as  hell! 
The  biggest  fool  this  world  ever  looked  on  is  the  man  that 
spends  all  his  probationary  existence  trying  to  persuade 
himselfthatthereisnohell,and  then  after  death  he  lays  down 
in  hell,  forever  realizing  that  there  is  one. 

You  say,  *' Well,  I  don't  like  these  hell-scared  sinners." 
Why,  bless  you!  they  are  the  only  sort  I  do  like.  And  I 
want  to  tell  you  to-night  that,  fourteen  years  ago  I  got  a 
good  scare,  and,  blessed  be  God  !  I  ain't  over  it  good  yet; 
and  I  never  want  to  get  over  it  until  I  get  into  the  pearly 
gates,  safe  forever.  And  I  believe  in  hell  just  as  strong  as 
I  believe  in  heaven ;  and  I  believe  that  a  topless  heaven  has 
Us  counterpart  in  a  bottomless  hell.  And  jnst  in  propor- 
tion as  you  let  up  at  this  point,  that  minute  you  run  riot  in 
wickedness  and  sin  and  outrageous  conduct;  and  I  want  to 
say  to  you  all  to-night,  my  fellow-citizens,  I  believe  that  if  a 
man  lives  and  dies  in  his  sins,  because  that  book  says  so,  that 
he  is  lost — and  lost  forever !     If  heaven  is  eternal,  then  hell  is 


198  The  Dangers  of  Delay. 

eternal,  for  the  same  adjectives  that  apply  to  the  one  apply 
to  the  other  j  and  this  much  I  say,  ''  God  help  me  !  God  help 
me,  that  I  may  never  go  there/' 

THE  LOCALITY  OF  HELL. 

A  man  asked  me  the  other  day  where  hell  was?  Said  I, 
^'  I  donH  know,  and  by  the  grace  of  God  I  never  will  know — 
I  never  will  know."  And  he  asked  me  was  there  really 
genuine,  burning,  brimstone  there  ?  Said  I,  ^'  I  am  so  afraid 
there  is,  I  am  never  going  there,  and  I  am  never  going  to 
see  whether  there  is  or  not.''  God,  keep  the  gate  of  heaven 
wide  open  before  me,  and  some  of  these  days  I  will  run  right 
into  glory  and  to  God  ;  and  then,  in  heaven,  shut  up  forever, 
I  shall  be  delivered  from  hell  forever. 

No,  sir,  no  man  here  can  say,  ''  The  reason  I  live  here  a  sin- 
ner is  because  I  don't  know  whatsin  will  lead  to."  I  like  very 
well  the  definition  of  the  old  colored  woman.  When  the  old 
man  came  home  he  said,  "  Auntie,  the  preacher  preached  to- 
day about  hell-fire  and  brimstone  ;"  and  he  said,  '^  Auntie, 
where  does  God  get  all  the  brimstone  to  burn  forever?  The 
old  woman  said,  "Honey,  all  the  old  sinners  takes  the  brim- 
stone with   'em  there  to  burn  'em  forever." 

Then  I  come  closer  to  you  with  this  question.  You  say 
you  will  leave  here  a  sinner  to-night — and  men  will  do  it  to- 
night. Impenitent  sinners,  you  will  leave  here  that  way. 
Well,  why?  It  is  notbecausc  you  are  ignorant  ofthe  nature  of 
sin  and  ignorant  of  its  consequences.  You  know  whatsin  is, 
and  you  know  what  sin  will  do  for  a  man,  and  I  know  that 
sin  will  ruin  a  man  in  this  world,  and  I  know  that  sin  is  the 
same  in  all  worlds.  Men  are  the  same  in  all  worlds,  and  it 
is  not  a  question  how  long  he  will  endure,  but  how  long- 
will  sin  endure  ? 

THE    PLEA  OF    INDIFFERENCE. 

Then,  I  ask  you  again,  is  it  because  you  are  indiiferent  to 
the  truth  ?  You  knoAv  what  the  truth  is,  and  you  know  what 
sin  will  do  for  you ;  and  yet  you  are  indifi'erent  to  the  truth. 
Oh,  how  many  indifferent  men  there  are  in  this  world,  that 
wear  a  placid  countenance  when  every  nerve  and  muscle  in 
them  ought  to  be  shaking  under  the  pressure  and  power  of 
truth  as  it  is  applied  to  them!  Oh,  how  many  indifferent 
men  are  here  to-night — indifferent  to  the  truth;  indifferent  to 


The  Dangers  of  Delay. 


199 


their  condition — and  maybe  in  twenty-four  hours  from  this 
moment  they  will  be  in  eternity  and  their  body  in  their  cof- 
fin 'j  and  yet  they  are  perfectly  indifferent  to  the  future — in- 
different! And  I  do  thanJv  God  that  whatever  may  have 
been  my  estate  as  a  sinner,  I  never  reached  the  point  when 


^^Honey,  all  the  old  sinriers  iaJccs  the  hHfnstone  loith  'e;n." 

I  was  indifferent  to  the  truth.  Sometimes  I  would  not  go  to 
church  once  in  six  months,  with  the  bells  ringing  all  around 
me  Sabbath  morning,  and  yet  I  say  to  you  to-night,  I  never 
went  with  my  Christian  wife  to  the  house  of  God  and  heard 
an  honest  gospel  sermon  that  it  didnH  move  mo  from  head  to 
foot.  I  tried  to  appear  indifferent.  I  would  not  let  my  wife 
know  how  I  felt  for  all  the  world  ;  I  would  not  let  the  preach- 
er know  it  for  all  the  world,  and  I  carried  a  placid,  in- 
different countenance  through  it  all.     And  yet  that  man  out 


200  The  Dangers  of  Delay. 

there  says  to-night,  ^^That  is  my  condition  ;  I  feel  a  good  deal 
different  from  what  my  wife  thinks  anything  about,  and  what 
my  neighbor  thinks  anj^thing  about;  I  am  concerned  about 
the  great  hereafter/^     It  is  not  indifference. 

THE  PLEA  OF  RECKLESSNESS. 

When  I  ask  you,  "Is  it  because  you  are  reckless  as  to  the 
consequences?"  Sometimes  men  put  on  an  air  of  reckless- 
ness, and  sometimes  they  seem  to  defy  God  and  defy  man; 
they  curse  with  a  loud  voice  and  sin  with  an  outstretched 
arm,  and  they  think,  "I  have  nothing  to  conceal;  I  sin  pub- 
licly and  openly;  I  defy  God  to  his  face;'^  and  there  is  a 
recklessness  that  is  enough  to  make  men  tremble  as  they 
look  upon  it.  Eecklessness  !  You  say,  "How  foolish  these 
things." 

In  my  own  town  one  night,  one  of  our  citizens,  a  daring, 
reckless,  drinking  man,  stood  on  the  platform  of  the  depot, 
and  he  said:  "To-night  I  am  going  to  walk  up  the  railroad 
and  meet  the  down  passenger  night  express,  and,"  said  he, 
"I  am  going  to  meet  it  on  the  track,  and  gather  the  engine 
in  my  hands  and  hurl  it  into  the  ditch  on  the  side  of  the 
track."  They  laughed  at  him ;  they  felt  his  recklessness  had 
assumed  a  very  humorous  turn ;  and  that  night,  as  the  down 
passenger  train  come  rolling  and  thundering  along,  just  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  above  the  depot,  this  maddened,  reckless 
wretch  met  it  on  the  track  and  stooped  to  catch  it  by  its  de- 
fender, and  it  rushed  and  rolled  on  and  he  was  ground  to 
powder.  Oh,  how  reckless  that  man  was!  And  there  is  that 
man  rushing  right  up  into  the  face  of  God  and  his  judgment, 
and  by-and-by,  instead  of  tossing  God  and  the  judgment  to 
one  side,  "upon  whom  this  stone  shall  fall,  it  shall  grind  him 
to  powder." 

GREEDY  FOR  HELL. 

Eecklessness  !  There  are  men  in  this  city  that  are  reckless 
in  the  highest  degree.  They  are  not  willing  to  live  out  their 
threescore  years  and  ten,  and  lie  down  and  die,  and  go  to  per- 
dition by  the  natural  order  of  things;  but  instead  of  living 
out  their  threescore  years  and  ten  and  dying  and  going  to 
hell,  twenty,  thirty,  forty  years  hence,  I  see  these  men  fre- 
quenting bar-rooms,  pouring  the  liquid  damnation  down 
their  throats,  and  I  see  it  affecting  their  constitutions  day  by 


Hie  Dangers  of  Delay.  201 

day,  and  then  I  see  the  physician  of  the  family  tel)  him: 
*'You  must  hold  up,  sir,  or  you  will  be  in  your  grave;"  but 
instead  of  holding  uji,  he  drinks  on,  and  drinks  on,  and  now 
we  see  him  with  liquor  bringing  him  within  six  months  of 
his  grave  and  of  hell  and  of  his  lost  estate,  and  he  is  not  sat- 
isfied to  drink  on,  but  at  the  end  of  the  six  months  he  walks 
out  on  your  streets  and  picks  a  quarrel  with  a  friend,  and 
that  friend  shoots  him  down  on  the  sidewalk,  and  he  leaps 
off  of  the  sidewalk  of  your  city  down  into  hell  twenty  years 
before  his  time — and  there  is  a  man  greedy  for  damnation  ; 
he  is  in  a  hurry  to  be  lost.  God  help  that  man  to-night  as 
he  leaps  recklessly  into  perdition  and  the  chamber  of  the 
dead.  Whatever  you  do,  halt  to-night  and  say,  ''I  will  not 
rush  on  Grod  and  the  grave  and  on  eternity  unprepared." 

AHEAD    OF    SCHEDULE    TIME. 

There  are  men  out  here  in  your  cemeteries  to-night,  if 
they  had  lived  along  as  quiet,  sober  citizens  they  could  have 
been  here  hearing  this  sermon  to-night;  they  could  have 
enjoyed  the  blessed  privilege  of  these  revival  meetings. 
There  are  men  in  your  cemeteries  to-night  who  might  find 
Christ  in  these  meetings  and  be  saved  forever,  but  they  were 
reckless  and  greedy  for  damnation  and  in  a  hurry  to  be 
damned. 

The  Lord  pity  us  to-night  and  check  us  up  to-night,  and 
if  we  never  stop  again,  God  bring  us  to  a  halt  and  bring  us 
to  our  senses  one  more  time  before  we  die. 

You  say,  "I  am  not  a  reckless  man."  There's  many  a  man 
appears  to  be  reckless,  but  when  he  turns  off  the  gas  at  night 
and  sits  alone  with  God,  he  is  afraid  of  God,  and  he  is 
afraid  of  the  judgment,  and  he  is  afraid  of  eternity,  and  he 
is  afraid  of  the  great  beyond.  ^'JSTo,  sir,''  it  is  not  reckless- 
ness, you  say. 

THE   PLEA   OF   PRESENT   SATISFACTION. 

Then  I  push  this  question  on  you  and  ask  you  this  :  Is  it 
because  you  are  satisfied  with  your  present  estate,  your 
present  condition?  lam  so  glad,  brethren,  that  God  will 
not  suffer  any  man  to  lie  down  and  sleep  his  way  to  hell. 
No,  sir!  Twenty-four  years  of  the  life  of  a  sinner  taught  me 
this  fact: 


202  The  Dangers  of  Delay, 

A  poor  sinner's  breast  is  like  the  troubled  sea; 

It  has  no  rest;  it  lives  devoid  of  peace; 
A  thousand  stings  within  our  soul 

Deprive  our  hearts  of  ease. 

And  I  tell  you  to-night,  I  never  saw  a  minute  of  my  life 
that  I  was  satisfied  with  my  condition.  No,  sir;  I  was  an 
orphan  and  I  was  friendless  and  hopeless  amid  all  the  gay- 
eties  of  life,  when  I  looked  at  my  condition.  "JSTo,  sir,^'  you 
say,  ''it  is  not  because  I  am  satisfied  with  my  present  condi- 
tion.^' God  won't  sufl:er  a  man  out  of  harmony  with  him  to 
get  into  an  estate  like  that.  I  don't  care  what  jou  say  about 
your  happiness  and  your  peace  and  all  that  sort  of  thing. 
God  bless  you,  brother;  you  know  it  is  the  truth,  that  the 
pleasures  that  you  drown  your  life  in  are — 

Like  poppies  spread, 
You  seize  the  flower,  the  bloom  is  shed; 
Or,  like  the  snow  falls  in  the  river, 
A  moment  wliite,  then  melts  forever. 

Lord  pity  us  poor  fellows,  feeding  on  the  husks  of  swine 
day  after  day,  and  trying  to  satisfy  the  immortal  soul. 

A  COMPROMISE  LIFE. 

"  No,  sir,"  you  say,  ''  It  is  not  because  I  am  satisfied  with 
my  present  condition."  Then  I  ask  you  again  :  "  Is  it  be- 
cause you  are  leading  a  sort  of  a  compromise  life — 'I  am 
going  to  be  religious  after  awhile?'"  If  I  were  to  make 
this  proposition  this  moment — if  I  ask  every  man  in  this 
house  who  intends  to  prepare  for  death,  between  this  and  his 
dying  moment  to  rise,  every  one  in  the  house  would  stand 
up  immediately.  No  man  ever  settled  and  fixed  the  ques- 
tion unalterably  and  forever,  "  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to 
be  damned."  I  never  saw  the  man  that  would  say  that. 
Then,  brother,  have  you  and  I  any  more  time  to  throw  away  ? 
I  have  often  thought  of  that  little  fellow  running  down  to 
the  train  with  all  his  might,  and,  just  as  he  reached  the  de- 
pot, the  train  rolled  off,  and  there  he  stood  sad  and  disap- 
pointed and  dejected,  and  a  kind  friend  looked  on  the  little 
fellow  and  said,  "My  little  man,  I  will  tell  you  what  is  the 
matter."  ''What?"  said  the  boy.  "Oh,"  said  the  man,  "you 
didn't  run  fast  enough."  "Oh,  yes,  I  did,"  said  the  boy. 
"  I  ran  with  all  my  might,  but  my  trouble  was  I  didn't  start 
soon  enough."     And  oh,  me  !  there's  many  a  man  in  this 


The  Dangers  of  Delay.  203 

world  that  will  miss  heaven,  not  because  he  didnH  start,  but 
because  he  didn't  start  soon  enough.  And  I  have  seen  the 
passenger  stand  at  the  depot  platform,  and  the  train  had 
gone,  had  gone,  had  gone,  and  I  looked  into  his  face  and  I 
saw  written  upon  every  tissue  and  ligament  of  his  counten- 
ance, "Left!  left!  left!"  And  when  the  last  hope  shall 
have  swept  by  you,  and  gone  on  without  you,  then  upon 
every  fibre  and  tissue  of  your  soul  will  be  written,  "Left 
and  lost!  Lost  and  left  forever  !" 

Oh,  my  Lord  !  teach  men  that  while  G-od  Almighty  runs 
his  trains  right  at  our  feet  every  day,  and  checks  up  enough 
for  us  all  to  get  abroad,  it  is  the  bounden  duty  of  every  man 
to  step  on  board  and  go  to  God  and  to  glory. 

EOLLY  OF   "going   TO   QUIT   WRONG." 

A  great  many  people  think,  "Well,  Fm  going  to  quit  do- 
ing wrong;  Tvemade  my  mind  up  for  that."  Yesj  what  is 
that  worth  ?  Here  is  a  man  whose  all  depends  on  his  reach- 
ing Cincinnati  to-morrow  morning  at  8  o'clock.  He  goes 
down  there  to  the  depot  to-night  and  stands  there  and  lets 
the  trains  all  pull  out  and  leave  him.  You  will  say, 
"  Friend,  you  have  lost  your  all."  "  I  know  that."  "Well, 
why  didn't  you  get  on  board  ?  "  "  Well,  I — I — I  came  down 
hereto  the  train,  and  I — I — I  thought  if  I  wouldn't  throw 
any  rocks  *it  the  engineer  and  I  wouldn't  cuss  the  conductor, 
the  thing  would  take  me  along  anyhow.  I  thought  all 
that  was  necessary  was  for  me  not  to  bother  the  engineer 
and  conductor."  And  there's  many  a  man  in  this  world 
standing  and  being  left  forever  who  expects  to  get  in  at  last 
because  he  didn't  cuss  the  preacher  and  throw  rocks  at  the 
meeting-house.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  that  sort  of  foolish- 
ness in  this  world. 

A   PLEA   OF    SPIRITUAL   APATHY. 

Then  we  come  at  you  with  this  question  :  You  say,  "  No, 
sir,  I  will  not  lead  a  compromise  life.  I  know  I  ought  to 
be  religious,  but  I  have  not  set  a  day  ahead."  Then  I  ask 
you  this  question:  "Is  it  because  a  spiritual  apathy  has 
taken  possession  of  your  soul?" 

Listen,  brother? 
Awake  thou  that  sleepest  and  arise  from  the  dead,  and   Christ  shall  give 
thee  light. 

The  saddest  attitude  of  the  soul  as  it  lies  on  the  brink  of 


204  The  Bangers  of  Belay, 

perdition  is  the  attitude  of  slumber.  A  man  sleeping  over 
his  immortal  interest!  Can  you  imagine  a  man  like  that? 
In  our  State  we  have  a  Mr.  William  A.  Eogers,  President  of 
the  Marietta  Female  College.  One  morning  his  wife- was 
indisposed,  and  he  sent  his  servant  to  the  drug-store  for 
quinine.  In  a  few  moments  the  servant  came  back.  Mrs. 
Eogers  took  the  powder  and  put  it  on  her  tongue.  She 
rinsed  it  down  with  water,  but  as  soon  as  she  had  swallowed 
it  she  walked  to  the  front  porch,  and  to  her  husband,  who 
was  in  the  flower-yard,  she  said.  ^'  Husband,  that  was  not 
quinine  I  took  just  now.  I  sent  for  quinine,  but  I  am  satis- 
fied that  was  not  quinine."  Mr.  Eogers  ran  down  with  all 
his  might  to  the  drug-store,  and  said  :  "  What  was  that  you 
sent  my  wife?^'  The  druggist  threw  up  his  hands  and  said: 
''  Sir,  I  have  sent  enough  morphine  to  your  house  to  kill  a 
dozen  persons."  Mr.  Eogers  ran  over  to  the  doctor's  office 
and  carried  two  physicians  home  with  him.  They  admin- 
istered emetics  and  strong  coffee  and  various  remedies,  but 
directly  a  death-like  stupor  began  to  crawl  over  her  frame. 
The  agonized  husband  turned  to  the  doctors  and  said  :  '■'■  Is 
there  any  chance  to  save  my  poor  wife?"  "  Yes,"  they  re- 
plied, *'  if  we  can  keep  her  awake  for  four  hours  we  can  save 
her  life."  The  minutes  seemed  like  hours,  as  they  walked 
her  up  and  down  the  floor,  and  threw  cold  water  in  her  face, 
and  whipped  her  person  with  cruel  switches,  and  every 
means  was  used.  That  death-like  stupor  became  so  oppres- 
sive that  she  turned  to  her  husband  and  said :  "Husband, 
please  let  me  go  to  sleep  ;"  and  he  said,  "  Oh,  wife,  if  you 
go  to  sleep  you  will  never  wake  up  again  in  this  world."  "  I 
know  that,"  she  said,  "  but  please  let  m.e  go  to  sleep."  And 
they  walked  her  up  and  down  the  floor,  and  soon,  when  the 
stupor  overwhelmed  her  whole  being,  she  turned  to  her  hus- 
band, and  said  :  "  Husband  ;  please  let  me  sleep  for  just  five 
minutes."  And  he  said:  "Wife,  if  you  go  to  sleep  for  five 
minutes,  you  will  never  wake  up.  Arouse  !  Arouse  !  "  And 
thus  they  persevered  until  the  four  hours  had  passed,  and 
the  doctors  pronounced  her  safe. 

THE    OPIATE    OF    SIN. 

And  I  have  seen  the  soul  of  man  just  in  that  condition.     I 
have  worked  with  him,  prayed  with  him  and  wrestled  with 


The  Dangers  of  Delay,  205 

him  day  after  day  and  week  after  week ;  and  the  devil  would 
administer  opiates  to  his  soul,  and  he  would  say:  *'Just  let 
me  sleep  until  this  service  is  over — this  last  hour's  service 
of  the  meeting.  Just  let  me  sleep  through  this/'  And  I 
have  aroused  him  and  we  have  sung^  '^Come,  humble  sinner," 
arid  on  and  on  ;  and  then  he  said  :  "Just  let  me  sleep  through 
this  last  verse"  — 

But  if  T  die,  that  mercy  sought, 
Thjit  on  the  King  have  cried, 
It's  then  to  die — delightful  thought — 
As  sinner  never  died. 
And  he  sang  the  verse  through,  and  he  closed  his  eyes  and 
slept  and  slept  and  slept,  until  in  hell  he  opened  his  eyes, 
wideawake  forever !  Oh,  brother,  can  you  sleep  that  way? 
Oh,  brother!  Oh,  how  men  sleep  over  their  immortal  inter- 
ests !  How  men  sleep  over  the  interests  of  their  souls  ! 

I  can  arouse  this  town  with  the  cry  that  there  is  danger  to 
a  family  there.  In  the  City  of  Atlanta,  a  few  months  ago, 
the  Wilson  House,  one  of  our  second-class  hotels — in  size,  I 
mean — caught  fire.  The  flames  burst  out  of  the  window,  and 
directly  the  fire-bells  commenced  ringing,  the  fire  compan- 
ies came  thundering  down  the  street,  and  multitudes  pressed 
toward  the  hotel.  The  servants  ran  from  room  to  room  and 
awakened  the  guests.  They  waked  up  this  one,  and  he  dress- 
ed hurriedly  and  ran  out.  They  waked  up  that  one,. and  he 
dressed  hurriedly  and  ran  ont. 

COULD  NOT  BE  ROUSED. 

Finally  a  servant  went  to  one  room  in  which  there  were 
two  guests,  each  in  a  different  bed.  He  aroused  one.  He 
jumped  out  of  bed.  He  aroused  the  other,  but,  with  a  moan  and 
a  groan,  he  went  to  sleep  again.  The  guest  who  had  been 
roused  dressed  himself  hurriedly  and  ran  to  the  bed  of  the 
other  and  shook  him  and  said  :  "Get  up,  the  house  is  on  fire." 
He  simply  moaned  and  groaned  and  went  back  to  sleep. 
When  his  friend  had  finished  dressing  he  ran  to  the  bed  and 
pulled  the  man  out  of  bed.  He  stood  him  on  his  feet  and 
said:  "  The  house  is  on  fire!  Hurry!  hurry!  or  you  will 
be  burned  up  !"  The  man,  as  he  was  turned  loose,  shot  back 
into  his  bed  with  a  moan  and  a  groan,  and  went  to  sleep 
again.  And  the  next  day,  when  they  were  raking  among 
the  debris  of  the  building,  they  found  his  bones  all  charred 


206  The  Dangers  of  Delay, 

and  burned.  And  many  a  time  on  earth,  heaven  seems  to  long 
to  arouse  ns  and  pull  us  away  from  our  surroundings,  and 
stand  us  on  our  feet,  and  cry  "  Fire  !  eternal  fire  V  And  yet 
there  we  stand,  and  at  last  among  sulphurous  flames  and 
eternal  perdition,  our  bones  lie  burned  and  charred  forever. 
Look  here,  friends,  if  we  wake  to-night  let  us  stand  up  like 
men  and  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come. 

A  DEAD  PEACE. 

You  say,  *'No,  I  am  not  asleep.  I  am  wide  awake.  I  hear  it. 
I  not  only  hear  with  my  ear,  but  all  you  say  is  ringing- 
through  the  chambers  of  my  soul.''  Then  one  more  question 
and  we  come  to  God's  answer. 

Is  it  because  a  spiritual  apathy  has  taken  possession  of 
you?  Is  it  because  a  spiritual  peace — a  peace  that  defies  the 
cannon,  that  walks  away  unmoved  from  God,  a  peace 
thatmeans  the  certain,  awful  and  dreadful  death  of  the  soul;  a 
peace  that  a  man  gets  at  the  cannon's  mouth,  and  with  the 
sound  of  musketry  all  around  him,  a  conquered  peace  that 
means  the  apathy  of  the  soul?  I  will  illustrate  it. 

At  one  of  our  big  camp-meetings  in  Georgia  Bishop  Pierce 
was  announced  to  preach  at  11  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning — 
BishopPierce,  whom  we  love  so  well, and  whom  we  believe  to 
this  day  to  be  the  grandest  preacher  America  has  ever  pro- 
duced. Tented  on  that  camping  ground  was  a  good  woman, 
or  rather,  her  husband  tented  there.  She  was  a  Christlike, 
good  woman,  her  husband  was  a  wicked,  wayward  sinner 
about  60  years  old.  He  tented  there  on  account  of  his  wife, 
and  he  was  kind  and  clever  to  the  preachers  and  to  all  the 
guests  at  the  camp-meeting.  On  that  special  occasion  the  old 
man  brought  his  chair  out  and  took  a  seat  among  the  wor- 
shipers. And  the  bishop  said  that  when  he  stood  up  and  read 
his  text  something  seemed  to  say  to  him,  ''  You  are  preach- 
ing the  last  awakening  sermon  that  that  old  sinner  will  ever 
hear."  He  said  the  Spirit  of  God  came  down  upon  him  and 
seemed  to  turn  loose  all  the  powers  of  his  nature.  He  poured 
hot  grape  and  canister  on  to  the  devoted  head  of  that  old 
sinner. 

A   VICTORY   FOR   SIN. 

And  there  he  sat  in  his  chair  and  turned  pale  and  red,  and 
at  times  he  would  turn  and  twist  in  his  chair  and  bite  his 


The  Bangers  of  Delay,  207 

lip.     He  was  very  restless  during  the  whole  sermon,  and  as 
soon  as  the  Bishop  sat  down  the  old  sinner  took  his  chair, 
went  to  his  tent,  fastened  the  front  door,  barred  the  back 
door,  and  shut  the  windows  and  fastened  them.     When  his 
wife  came  to  dinner  with  her  guests  she  knocked  for  admit- 
tance.   Theonly  answer  she  received  was  an  unearthly  groan 
that  was  awful  to  listen  to.     She  looked  through  a  crack  in 
the  window  and  saw  her  husband  prostrate  in  the  straw  on 
the  floor.     She  said  :  "May  God  Almighty  secure  a  victory 
over  my  poor  husband.     The  good  Spirit  of  God  has  touched 
his  heart."'     She  went  back  there  at  3  o'clock  that  afternoon 
and  the  battle  was  still  going  on.    She  knocked  for  admission, 
but  received  no  answer  except  those  moans  and  groans.  She 
went  back  at  midnight  and  the  battle  was  still  going  on.  At 
daylight  next  morning  that  battle  was  growing  hotter  and 
thicker — a  battle  greater  in  its  results  than  Gettysburg  or 
Waterloo  or  any  other  battle  ever  fought  in  this  world — a 
battle  between  God  and  an  immortal  spirit.     At  1  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  just  twenty-five  hours  after  he  shut  that  door, 
he  opened  it  again.     His  wife  was  standing  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  tent.     She  saw  the  tent  door  fly  open,  and  she 
ran  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind  to  embrace  her  converted 
husband;  but  when  she  went  up  to  him,  the  cold,  marble  look 
of  his  countenance  and  the  rigid  frown  on  his  face  told  her 
that  he  had  conquered  the  Spirit  of  God.     But  it  took  him 
twenty-five  hours  to  do  it,  and  that  was  the  last  battle  that 
poor  old  man  ever  fought.     He  was  never  disturbed  any 
more.     And  I  want  to  tell  every  man  here  that  you  have 
that  same  battle  to  fight  or  to  surrender  to  God.     It  may  not 
take  you  twenty-five  hours;  it  may  not  take  you  twenty- 
five  minutes.     You  may  fight  God  and  conquer  his  Spirit 
within  your  heart  in  twenty-five  seconds,  and  that  will  be 
the  last  battle  you  will  ever  fight  on  this  side  of  eternity. 
Oh,  me!     This  night  surrender,  if  in  your  heart  there  has 
stirred  the  wooings  and  warnings  of  God's  Holy  Spirit.    All 
sin  will  be  forgiven  you  except  sinning  successively  and  per- 
sistently against  the  Holy  Ghost.     And  he  that  doth  this 
shall  never  be  forgiven  in  this  world  or  the  world  to  come. 

And  successively  sinning  against  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the 
fighting  of  it  for  the  last  time  out  of  your  heart,  and  letting 
him  leave  you  in  despair. 


208  The  Dangers  of  Delay, 

THE  ANSWER  AND  THE  TEXT. 

Now,  the  answer  comes  right  here.  Listen,  my  friend. 
God  says  the  reason  a  man  will  continue  on  in  sin  is  this : 

Because  sentence  against  an  evil  work  is  not  executed  speedily,  therefore 
the  heart  of  the  sons  of  men  is  fully  set  in  them  to  do  evil. — Ecclesiastes  8;  11 

That  is  to  say,  because  the  sentence  or  punishment  for  evil 
is  delayed  ten  or  twenty  years  before  I  am  damned  for  it,  I 
will  just  sin  on. 

Here  is  the  proof.  Listen.  If  you  kne\^  that  immediate- 
ly the  next  oath  crossed  your  lips,  you  w^ould  be  sent  into 
eternity,  you  know  you  would  never  swear  again.  If  you 
knew  that  the  next  time  the  intoxicating  cup  touched  your 
lips,  your  sentence  would  be  immediately  pronounced,  you 
would  never  drink  again.  The  logic  of  sin  is  this  :  ^'Because 
God  is  good,  I  will  sin  ;  because  God  is  long-suifering,  I  will 
rebel  againsc  God,  and  I  will  make  God's  goodness  a  reason 
for  my  wickedness,  and  God's  long-suffering  an  excuse  for 
my  continued  crime." 

Oh  Lord,  have  mercy  on  us^nd  help  us  to  decide  here  and 
now :  "I  will  never  sleep  another  moment  on  earth  until  my 
past  is  buried  in  the  precious  promise  of  God.  I  am  going 
to  look  out  for  my  soul  in  the  future." 

I^ow  friends.  In  all  love  and  kindness,  if  you  would  make 
peace  with  God  and  get  to  heaven,  how  many  of  you  who 
are  not  Christians  to-night  will  say,  ^'  I  don't  want  to  fight 
that  fight.     I  want  to  surrender  to  God." 

How  many  of  you,  young  and  old,  fathers  and  mothers, 
will  stand  up  where  you  are,  and  say,  by  standing  up,  "I 
would  surrender  to  God  to-night  and  live  and  be  a  Chris- 
tian?" Oh,  if  I  were  there  in  your  place,  I  would  be  the 
first  one  to  stand  up  !  Let  us  now  decide  to  make  our  peace 
with  God,  and  call  a  halt  in  our  course  of  sin.  [Several 
persons  rose  to  their  feet.] 

That  is  right.  Whoever  feels  like  saying,  ''I  will  repent 
to-night,"  stand  up.  [More  rising.]  That  is  right,  my 
brother.  Do  not  be  ashamed  or  afraid.  Stand  up  in  the 
gallery,  in  the  dress  circle  or  anywhere.  Stand  up  all  over, 
you  who  feel  like  saying,  *'I  want  to  repent  to-night.  I 
would  not  fight  God  out  of  my  heart." 

•  A  CALL  FOR  PENITENTS. 

And  now  I  will  say  to  the  congregation,  we  are  going  to 


The  Dangers  of  Delay.  209 

have  an  after  service,  and  all  of  you  that  want  to  retire  do 
so.  Every  one  of  you  who  are  not  Christians  who  stood  up, 
stay  with  us  and  come  to  the  front.  All  who  did  not  stand 
up,  and  are  Christians,  come  to  the  front,  and  may  God  to- 
night give  us  one  hundred  souls  for  Christ.  Oh,  friend,  do 
not  leave  here  if  you  are  not  a  Christian  !  I  trust  to-night 
one  hundred  or  more  honest  penitents  will  come  and  take 
their  seats  in  front  here  and  tell  me,  ''  I  want  to  know  God/' 
A  good  many  were  converted  here  last  night,  and  a  good 
many  in  the  church  to-day.  !N'ow  my  friends,  let  us  make 
our  peace  with  God,  and  it  will  be  the  grandest  night  in  our 
history. 


p^f^MON  XII. 

^IN    AJND    pEATH. 


As  righteousness  tendeth  to  life,  so  he  that  pursueth  evil  pursueth  it  to  his 
own  death. — Proverbs  11;  19. 

WHEN  a  good  man  dies  he  not  only  goes  to  heaven,  drawn 
thither  by  the  natural  force  of  spiritual  gravity  and  by 
the  approval  of  God  and  angels,  but  by  the  common  consent 
of  all  intelligent  beings'  in  this  world.  When  a  bad  man 
dies  he  not  only  goes  to  hell,  drawn  thither  by  the  natural 
force  of  spiritual  gravit}",  by  the  approval  oi  God  and  an- 
gels, but  by  the  common  consent  of  GYcry  other  man  in  the 
universe.  Did  you  ever  attend  the  funeral  of  a  good  man; 
one  that  was  known  and  read  of  all  men  as  a  good  man? 
Haven't  you  satin  the  church  as  the  preacher  said,  ^'Here  lies 
the  body  of  our  brother,  and  his  spirit  is  gone  home  to  God 
to  live  forever  with  the  angels;''  haven't  you  gone  out  of 
the  church  and  heard  saint  and  sinner  both  say,  "That's  the 
truth!  That  good  man  has  gone  home  to  heaven!  That 
preacher  told  the  truth  when  he  said  that  good  man  has 
gone  home  to  God"?  Haven't  you  heard  that  in  conversa- 
tion on  the  street,  saint  and  sinner  both  speaking  it  out? 
Did  3^ou  ever  attend  a  funeral  of  a  different  character,  one  of 
these  members  of  the  church,  may  be,  that  did  not  live 
right,  and  haven't  you  heard  the  preacher  stand  up  and  say, 
"Here  lies  our  brother's  body  and  he  has  gone  home  to 
heaven,"  and  then  seen  hundreds  of  heads  begin  to  shake  in 
a  moment,  and  then  you  walk  out  on  the  street  and  saint  and 
sinner  both  say,  "The  preacher  outraged  every  principle  of 
truth,  and  I'll  never  hear  him  preach  again  ?  He  knows 
that  man  hasn't  gone  to  heaven,  and  we  know  it,  and  every- 
bodv  else  knows  it." 
"210 


Eighteousness  and  Life;  Sin  and  Death,  211 

NO   PREACHING   INTO   HEAVEN. 

Oh,  my  brother !  This  old  world  won't  let  a  preacher 
preach  a  bad  man  into  heaven,  and  this  old  world  won't  let 
a  preacher  preach  a  good  man  into  hell.  1  have  found  that 
out.  And  the  preacher's  words  don't  go  with  us  into  heaven 
or  to  hell.  If  a  man  is  in  heaven  at  all'he  is  there  long  be- 
fore the  preacher  takes  his  text;  and  if  a  fellow  is  in  hell  he^ 
is  there  long  before  the  preacher  takes  his  text;  and  the 
preacher  cannot  j^reach  a  fellow  into  heaven  or  hell.  They 
are  down  there  before  he  takes  his  text,  in  one  place  or  the 
other.  It  is  all  foolishness,  and  a  great  deal  of  harm  is  done 
in  this  world  by  preachers  taking  a  false  position  on  this 
point.  And  I'll  tell  you  now.  If  your  husband  didn't  live 
right,  and  your  children  didn't  live  right,  and  your  mother 
didn't  live  right,  I  am  the  last  man  in  the  world  you  ought 
ever  to  get  to  funeralize,  for  I  tell  the  truth — when  I  am 
talking  to  the  living  I  tell  the  truth,  because  I  can't  harm 
the  dead  by  telling  the  truth. 
As  righteousness  tendeth  to  life. 

Oh,  my  brother!  the  path  of  the  just  is  as  a  shining  light, 
shining  more  and  more  into  the  perfect  day.  A  good  man's 
tendency  is  upward  and  onward,  and  higher  and  higher. 
Oh,  brother!  the  good  man  has  the  promise  of  the  life  that 
now  is  and  everlasting  life  in  the  world  to  come.  And  just 
so  sure  as  goodness  and  righteousness  lead  to  life  here- 
after, just  so 

He  that  pursueth  evil  piirsueth  it  to  his  own  death. 

Really,  I  don't  need,  as  I  have  said  before,  any  Bible  to 
teach  me  that  sin  will  kill,  that  sin  will  doom,  that  sin  will^ 
destroy.  I  don't  need  any  Bible  on  that  point.  I  never  saw 
a  poor,  staggering  drunkard,  but  what  I  looked  in  his  face 
and  said :  "Oh,  Lord  God,  sin  is  ruining  that  man,  and  sin  is 
killing  that  man,  and  sin  will  damn  that  man."  I  never  saw 
a  poor,  pale,  ruined  woman  halting  along  the  streets  of  the 
city  that  I  didn't  look  at  her  poor  tottering  form  and  say: 
"Sin  has  ruined  that  woman,  and  sin  is  dooming  that 
woman,  and  sin  is  disgracing  that  woman,  and  sin  will 
eventually  damn  that  woman."  No,  sir.  I^o,  sir.  I  don't 
need  any  Bible  to  teach  me  that  sin  will  ruin  human  beings; 
that  sin  is  death  to  the  body  and  death  to  the  soul. 

14 


212  Righteousness  and  Life;   Sin  and  Deaths 

THE  PURSUIT  OF  EVIL. 
He  that  pursueth  evil  pursueth  it  to  his  own  death. 
'  The  full  idea  exj^ressed  here,  the  real  idea  expressed  here, 
is  this:  The  natural  tendencies  of  men  are  evil,  and  all  a 
man  need  to  do  in  order  to  be  doomed  here  and  damned 
hereafter  is  just  to  follow  the  bent,  the  inclinations,  of  his 
own  heart  and  ways.  Sin  is  a  disease.  It  -is  a  leprosy.  It 
is  a  cancer  of  the  soul.  I  took  up  a  newspaper  some  months 
ago  and  I  read  that  Senator  Hill,  of  Georgia^Senator  Ben- 
jamin H.  Hill — had  a  little  trouble,  as  was  said,  with  his  ton- 
gue, and  they  made  light  of  it  and  said  it  Was  caused  by  a 
fractured  tooth.  A  few  days  after  that  I  took  up  a  secular 
paper  and  I  read  that  Senator  Hill  was  under  the  surgeon's 
knife  at  Philadelphia  and  that  they  had  taken  out  about 
one-third  of  his  tongue.  And  they  said,  ^'It  will  heal  up 
and  he  will  be  well  in  a  few  days.''  Well,  a  few  days  more, 
and  I  picked  up  the  paper  again,  and  it  said.  ^<  Senator  Hill 
is  back  under  the  surgeon's  knife  at  Philadelphia;"  and 
how  the  doctor  had  cut  all  the  glands  out  of  the  side  of  his 
face  and  neck.  Then  young  Ben  Hill  turned  to  the  doctor 
and  said:  "  Now  sir,  will  my  father  get  well?"  The  surgeon 
said  :  '^  If  we  have  extracted  the  last  particle  of  virus — this 
virus  of  cancer — from  his  system,  he  will  certainly  get  well, 
but  if  there's  the  least  particle  of  that  virus  of  cancer  left 
in  his  system  it  will  stray  off  to  some  other  gland  and  start 
a  second  cancer." 

THE  VIRUS  OF  SIN, 

The  next  I  heard  of  Senator  Hill  was  that  he  was  at  the 
famous  springs  in  the  "West.  I  walked  down  to  the  depot 
of  my  town  one  day  that  I  happened  to  be  at  home,  and 
when  I  came  to  the  track,  the  passenger  train  rolled  down 
all  trembling  under  its  air-brakes,  and  stopped.  1  looked 
toward  the  car,  and  I  thought  I  saw  what  was  the  outline  of 
Senator  Hill's  face.  I  walked  on  down  toward  the  car,  and 
he  pushed  his  bony  hand  out  of  the  car  and  took  mine,  and  I 
looked  in  his  face  and  said:  ''My  Lord!  Is  this  all  that  is  left 
of  Senator  Hill,  the  grandest  man  that  Georgia  ever  pro- 
duced ?"  And  a  few  days  after  that  I  took  up  the  Atlanta 
Constitution  and  read  :  "The  grandest  procession  that  ever 
marched  out  of  Atlanta  marched  out  yesterday  and  buried 
Senator  Hill  out  of  the  sisrht  of  men  " 


Bighteousness  and  Life;   Sin  and  Death.  213 

And  I  want  to  tell  this  congregation  to-night,  just  as  cer- 
tain as  the  virus  of  cancer  killed  Senator  Hill's  body,  just  so 
certain  the  virus  of  sin  will  kill  your  soul  at  last.  And  it 
isn't  a  question  of  how  you  have  been  baptized.  It  is  not  a 
question  of  what  Church  you  belong  to.  The  only  question 
for  time  and  eternity  with  every  mortal  man  is  this  :  Has 
this  virus  of  sin  been  extracted  from  my  soul? 

Oh,  thank  God.  Eighteen  hundred  years  before  I  was 
born,  the  old  world  began  to  sing: 

There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood 

Drawn  from  Emmanuel's  veins, 
And  sinners  plunged  beneath  that  floodj 

Lose  all  their  guilty  stainSo 

The  dying  thief  rejoiced  to  see 

That  fountain  in  his  day, 
And  there  mav  I 


Thank  God 


And  there  may  I,  though  vile  as  he^, 
Wash  all  my  sins  away. 


STABS    AT    CONSCIENCE. 

Blessed  be  God,  at  this  fountain  opened  up  in  the  house  of 
David  for  uncleanness,  the  world  has  been  washing  away 
its  guilt  for  thousands  of  years.  And  here  to-night  I  bid  you 
all,  ye  wretched,  ye  hungry,  ye  starving,  ye  debauched, 
ye  degraded,  ye  unclean  men — come  to  this  living  fountain, 
and  drink,  and  never  be  thirsty  again. 

Oh,  brother,  is  that  virus  of  sin  in  your  soul  ? 

Nothing  but  the  blood ! 
Nothing  but  the  blood 
Can  wash  my  sins  away. 

Every  sin  of  a  man's  life  is  a  direct  stab  at  his  conscience. 
When  men  start  in  sin,  and  sin  on  and  on,  there  comes  a 
time  by-and-by  when  their  conscience  is  honey-combed  with 
the  stabs  of  sin,  and  it  expires  and  breathes  its  last,  and 
the  man  walks  through  life  without  a  conscience  at  all. 

Oh,  conscience  !  that  reigning  principle  in  my  bosom  that 
speaks  out  when  wrong  presents  itself,  and  thunders  out 
against  wrong;  that  something  in  me  that  approves  the 
right.  And  every  sin  of  my  life  is  a  stab  at  my  conscience, 
and  by-and-by  I  make  the  last  fatal  stab,  and  conscience  is 
dead  forever. 


214  Righteousness  and  Life;   Sin  and  Death, 

"Will  you  let  me  say  to  you,  my  congregation  to-night, 
that  the  great  trouble  with  the  world  to-day  is  that  con- 
science is  stabbed  to  death.  "Why,  do  you  tell  me  that  this 
government  in  this  State  and  this  municipality  here  would 
be  run  like  it  is  if  conscience  was  alive?  ISTo,  sir!  I^ational 
conscience  is  dead  !  If  a  man  goes  into  a  credit  mobilier  or 
any  other  job  in  the  country,  and  filches  from  this  Govern- 
ment a  few  hundred  thousand  or  a  few  million,  he  is  dubbed 
^'Colonel,''  and  sent  to  the  United  States  Senate,  and  con- 
sidered one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  America!  But  if  a 
poor  negro  steals  a  dollar  to  buy  him  bread,  he  spends  a 
lonely,  weary  time  in  jail  and  in  the  chain  gang,  "What  is 
the  matter?     Conscience  is  dead  I 

CONSCIENCE   IS   DEAD. 

Conscience  is  dead  !  That's  all.  Oh,  my  fellow-citizens, 
let  me  say  to  you  to-night  that  the  trouble  with  this  coun- 
try is  that  the  national  conscience  is  dead,  and  individual 
conscience  is  dead,  and  the  Churches  conscience  is  dead,  and 
thus  we  are  marching  on; 

Tramp!  tramp!  tramp!  the  boys  are  marching, 

without  conscience,  and  without  the  saving  power  of  con- 
science to  check  them» 

Ah,  me  !  Look  at  St.  Louis!  And  I  want  to  tell  jon  right 
now  that  a  Christian  man  cannot  patronize  the  theaters  in 
this  town.  "Why?  The  day  of  the  week  that  a  Christian  man 
consecrates  to  God,  he  can  go  to  the  same  play  that  he  was 
at  on  Friday  night,  and  see  the  same  company  desecrate 
God's  Sabbath  on  Sunday  night,  in  the  same  house  that  he 
sat  and  saw  the  jolay  on  Friday  night !  And  do  you  tell  me 
that  a  Christian  with  a  live  conscience  will  look  on  a  thing 
on  Friday  night  and  go  to  see  a  play  on  that  same  stage  on 
which  that  same  crowd  are  going  to  desecrate  the  Sabbath 
and  violate  God's  law?  ITo,  sir.  A  Christian  man  with  a 
live  conscience  cannot  patronize  an  institution  of  that  sort. 
And  if  I  had  nothing  in  God  Almighty's  world  against  the 
the'ater,  I  say  I  am  down  on  any  crowd  that  cannot  make  a 
living  six  days  in  the  week,  and  that  have  to  rush  over  on 
God's  Sabbath  and  desecrate  that  day  to  make  a  living i  I 
am  down  on  that  sox't  of  a  crowd  ! 


Bighteoustiess  and  Life;   Sin  and  Death  215 

DOWN   ON   THE   THEATERS. 

They  say  I  am  down  on  theaters;  but,  God  bless  you,  if 
chey  will  make  the  theaters  as  good  as  the  Church — and  that 
would  not  be  hard  to  do — that  ain't  asking  much  of  them,  I 
pledge  you  my  word,  whenever  theaters  will  keep  the  Ten 
Commandments,  I  will  stand  ujd  and  advocate  them.  But  I 
am  down  on  them  as  long  as  they  are  down  on  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments. Do  you  understand  that?  They  are  growling 
mightily  on  my  track.  The  theatrical  companies  say  they 
would  rather  run  against  the  devil  than  Sam  Jones,  and  they 
are  down  on  me.  One  of  the  leading  theatrical  gentlemen 
just  from  a  Southern  tour,  said:  *'I  tell  you,  a  theatrical 
crowd  badbetter  keep  clearofSam  Jones' track, foryou  cannot 
make  salt  where  he  has  been."  I  like  that.  I  want  to  cut  a 
canal  through  the  whole  business,  and  ditch  it  off,  and  sun 
it  awhile  and  make  it  decent.  And  no  theater-man,  nor 
theater-goer,  need  say  one  word  to  me  about  holding  up — 
"don't  denounce  us  " — until  they  keep  the  Ten  Command- 
ments ;  and  when  they  do  that  I  will  bow  to  them  politely 
and  say,  "Gentlemen,  I  sheath  my  sword  and  I  will  never 
hit  you  again."  But  I  am  going  to  fight  anything  that  breaks 
the  Ten  Commandments.  I  am  standing  by  these  Ten  Com- 
mandments, and  I  am  going  to  die  by  them. 

TRAFFICKING   WITH   EVIL. 

The  conscience  of  this  city  is  dead.  Don't  you  know  that 
whenever  St.  Louis  says,  "You  shan't  sell  whisky  here  in 
this  town,"  don't  you  know  it  has  got  to  get  out  of  here? 
Don't  you  know  that?  And  I  will  tell  you  another  thing. 
We  members  of  the  Church  will  stand  around  here  and  curse 
bar-keepers — in  a  pious  way  I  mean — and  abuse  bar-keepers 
and  abuse  saloons.  Nowlet  me  tell  you.  Every  citizen  of  this 
town  walks  up  to  the  bar-keeper  and  pats  him  on  the  shoulder 
and  says,  "We'll  license  you  if  you  will  divide  with  us." 
Now,  ain't  that  saying,  "If  you  will  pay  us  taxes  for  selling 
it,  to  fix  up  the  streets  and  keep  the  town  going — if  you  will 
divide  with  me" — that's  it — "we'll  pat  you  on  the  back  and 
protect  you."  Ain't  that  so?  "  If  you  will  slip  $200  a  year 
in  this  pocket  here  to  help  fix  up  the  street  leading  to  the 
church,  WG  will  license  you,  pat  you  on  the  back,  protect 
you,  and  we'll  tell  our  preacher  to  shut  his  mouth — ^  Don't 


216  Bighteousness  and  Life;  Sin  and  Death. 

you  open  your  mouth.'  "  Ain't  that  so  [turning  to  the  min- 
isters on  the  stage]?  I  don't  know  whether  they  ever  told 
you  preachers  to  shut  your  mouths  or  not,  hut  you  have 
done  it  voluntarily,  if  they  didn't  make  you  do  it. 

THE    BAR-KEEPERS   ARE    GENTLEMEN. 

I  want  to  say  to  St.  Louis  to-night  that  the  bar-keepers 
and  saloon-keepers  are  the  gentlemen  and  St.  Louis  is  the 
vagabond!  Now,  what  do  you  say  ?  The  bar-keeper  is  selling 
it  to  get  a  little  money  to  feed  his  wife  and  children,  and 
you  are  letting  him  sell  it,  if  he  will  give  you  part  of  the 
money  to  fix  up  your  streets.  Ain't  that  the  way  it  is  go- 
ing? The  Lord  have  mercy  upon  us  !  And  this  is  just  the 
way  it  is  standing  in  this  country.  And  I  tell  you,  if  the 
Lord  Almighty  will  come  down  to-night  and  rake  and  dig 
the  dirt  off  our  consciences  where  they  are  dead  and  buried, 
and  if  he  will  burst  the  tombstones  oif  of  them  and  dig  them 
out  of  the  ground,  and  tear  the  grave-clothes  off  of  our 
consciences,  and  let  them  walk  the  streets  of  this  tawn  one 
day,  we'll  revolutionize  this  town  in  one  week  so  that  a 
familiar  friend  would  not  recognize  it. 

Conscience!  Conscience!  Do  you  want  to  know  why  I 
think  your  conscience  is  dead,  brother?  You  don't  j^ray  in 
your  family;  you  don't  attend  your  prayer-meeting;  you 
don't  do  anything  scarcely  that  a  Christian  ought  to  do,  and 
yet  you  say,  "I  feel  all  right."  The  old  fool  don't  know 
the  difference  between  feeling  all  right  and  not  feeling  at 
all — that's  what  is  hurting  him.  And  I  will  tell  you  it  takes 
a  philosopher  to  go  in  there  and  tell  the  difference,  too.  A 
dead  man  feels  as  good  as  anybody,  but  he  doesn't  feel  at  all. 

CONSCIENCE    AND   POLITICS. 

Conscience!  Conscience!  As  soon  as  we  got  the  conscience 
of  Atlanta  aroused  we  put  whisky  out  of  Atlanta;  and  they 
may  file  a  hundred  bills  of  injunctions;  but,  mark  what  I 
tell  you  !  When  the  majority  of  the  people  of  a  town  say  a 
thing  can't  be  did,  it  ain't  going  to  be  did — that's  all.  The 
majority  in  this  country  rules.  And  when  a  fellow  don't 
like  to  live  in  a  country  where  the  majority  rules,  then  he 
can  emigrate,  and  I'll  buy  him  an  emigrant  ticket  any  day 
he  wants  to  go. 

Talk  about  sumptuary  laws,  I  will  tell  you.     I  was  born 


Righteousness  and  Life;  Sin  and  Death.  217 

a  Democrat  and  raised  a  Democrat,  and  never  voted  any- 
thing but  a  Democratic  ticket,  but  if  they  try  to  ram  sumptu- 
ary laws  down  my  throat  in  the  shape  of  a  barrel  and  a 
demijohn,  I  ain't  a  Democrat — it's  a  lie.     I'll  die  first. 

THE  NIGGER  BETTER  THAN  WHISKY. 

And  ril  tell  you  another  thing.  When  you  look  for  the 
Democratic  party  to  come  down  the  road,  you  can  clear  the 
way.  You  will  see  a  Governor  astraddle  of  a  whisky  bar- 
rel, and  all  the  other  little  Democratic  politicians  riding 
demijohns  right  down  the  road— that's  the  way  they  have 
got  the  thing  in  this  country. 

And  I  told  them  some  time  ago  :  ''  You  bring  up  your  two 
parties  now — the  radical  party  running  on  the  nigger  and  the 
Democrats  on  whisky — that's  about  the  way  the  thing  stands 
now — and  they  say,  ^Now,  if  you  are  a  good  Democrat,  just 
swallow  this  candidate  and  his  barrel  down  ;'  then  if  you 
ain't  a  good  Democrat  you  are  aEepublican  :  '■  You  have  got  to 
swallow  this  man  here  or  a  darkey'— you  are  obliged  to  swal- 
low one  or  the  other.''  I  will  look  at  the  two.  Now,  there's 
the  Democrat  and  his  whisky;  and  here  is  the  Eadical  and 
his  nigger  ;  and  I  say :  ^'  Have  I  got  to  gulp  down  one  or 
the  other?"  ''Yes."  "  Well,"  I  will  say,  ''one  bottle  of 
whisky — one  might  have  done  me  more  harm  than  all  the  nig- 
gers in  the  Southern  States ;"  and  I  will  say :  "  You  just  pin 
that  fellow's  ears  back  and  grease  him,  and  down  he  goes." 

UNWISE  PARTY  LOYALTY. 

Those  are  just  my  honest  sentiments  about  it.  And  I  de- 
spise this  miserable  loyalty  to  party  that  takes  the  party 
lash  and  whips  me  into  voting  for  anybody.  I  don't  care 
who  he  is,  or  what  the  party  is  that  nominates  him.  May 
God  Almighty  raise  the  conscience  of  America  from  the  dead, 
and  let  us  not  ask  whether  he  is  this  or  that,  but  "Is  he 
a  pure,  good  man  and  will  he  do  right  in  office?"  That  is  it! 
I  will  never  vote  for  a  drunkard,  nor  a  gambler,  nor  a  de- 
bauchee, I  don't  care  who  nominates  him.  Never!  I  have 
got  too  much  conscience  for  that. 

Conscience!  And  we  have  sinned  and  sinned  until  con- 
science is  stabbed  to  death,  and  we  are  a  good  deal  like  the 
fellow  that  said  that  when  he  first  joined  the  Church  any  little 
thing  he  did  wrong  nearly  killed  him,  but  "I've  got  so  now, 


218  Righteousness  and  J^ife;  ^in  and  Death, 

I  can  steal  a  horse  and  it  don't  bother  me  at  all."  And  that's 
just  about  the  way  we  are  going  in  this  country  now — every 
fellow's  conscience  dead  ;  and  he  can't  see  any  harm  in  this, 
or  any  harm  in  that,  or  any  harm  in  the  other.  May  Al- 
mighty God  arouse  our  conscience  and  bring  it  to  life  once 
more.  We  have  stabbed  it  to  death,  and  here  we  are  to- 
night, quibbling  over  this  thing,  or  that  thing,  or  the  other 
thing.  Instead  of  drawing  our  swords  and  battling  for  the 
right,  and  daring  to  do  the  right,  we  are  wincing  and  whin- 
ing around,  and  saying,  "I  don't  see  any  harm  in  this,  and 
I  don't  see  any  harm  in  that." 

Good  Lord  !  Let  conscience  come  up  from  the  grave,  and 
then  you  can  see  the  line  just  as  clearly  as  you  can  see  the 
sun  at  mid-day  in  its  brightest  shining. 

CLOSING  ST.  LOUIS  SALOONS  ON  SUNDAY. 

Conscience!  Whenever  you  get  the  conscienceof  St.  Louis 
alive  you  are  going  to  stop  these  Sunday  theaters  here,  and 
you  are  going  to  stop  a  heap  of  devilment  that  is  going  on 
here  on  Sunday;  you  are  going  to  close  up  these  saloons  on 
Sunday.  And  I  will  say  another  thing:  if  I  was  a  betting 
man  and  there  wasn't  any  harm  in  betting,  I'd  stake  all  I 
could  raise  on  saying  that  twelve  months  from  to-day  you 
will  witness  the  last  saloon  open  on  Sunday  in  this  city. 

I  am  down  on  any  crowd  that  is  so  greedy  they  ain't  will- 
ing to  pour  damnation  down  a  fellow's  throat  six  days  in  a 
week  and  quit  with  that.  lam.  They  are  the  greediest  men  I 
ever  saw,  if  they  ain't  willing  to  compromise  on  six  days' 
work  to  put  in  for  hell  and  damnation.  That  ought  to  satis- 
fy any  fellow. 

Conscience!  Conscience!  Conscience!  I  know  you  will  say 
I  am  a  fanatic.  You  know  the  difference  between  a  fanatic 
and  one  of  your  sort  sitting  back  there — one's  conscience  is 
dead  and  buried,  and  the  other  has  got  a  live  conscience; 
and  it  don't  take  a  live  conscience  long  to  make  a  fanatic 
out  of  a  fellow.     That's  true!  I  found  that  out. 

Conscience!  Every  sin  of  my  life  is  a  direct  stab  at  my 
conscience,  and,  stab  after  stab,  the  blows  are  given  until 
conscience  gasps  and  breathes  its  last,  and  now  the  man  can 
do  anything  in  the  world,  and  he  can  see  no  harm  in  any- 
thing in  the  world. 


Mghteousness  and  Life;   Sin  and  Death.  219 

DEADENED    SENSIBILITIES. 

Conscience !  But  it  does  its  work  on.  He  that  pursueth 
evil  pursueth  it  to  the  death  of  his  sensibilities.  The  natural 
tendency  of  sin  is  to  dry  up  the  fountain  of  a  man's  sensibil- 
ities. Oh,  me  !  There  are  men  here  to-night  that  could  not 
shed  a  tear  if  they  could  get  a  kingdom  for  a  single  tear — all 
the  sensibilities  of  their  nature  dried  up;  and  you  might 
just  as  well  preach  to  a  dead  man  as  to  preach  to  one  of  them. 
Why,  he  says  all  emotional  flow,and  all  emotional  feeling,  and 
all  concerning  his  sensibilities,  were  dead  long  ago. 

Oh,  my  God  ?  Pity  a  man  that  has  stabbed  his  sensibili- 
ties to  death  and  has  no  feeling  about  his  immortal  interests. 

And,  then,  he  that  pursueth  evil  not  only  kills  conscience 
and  stabs  sensibility  to  death,  but  he  goes  on  at  his  work,  and 
then,  he  that  pursueth  evil  pursueth  it  to  the  death  of  his 
powers  of  resistance. 

THE  STOPPING  POWER. 

You  see  that  throttle  and  that  engineer's  hand  on  it;  and 
you  see  that  engine  rolling  at  the  rate  of  fifty  miles  an  hour, 
with  an  impulse  almost  omnipotent!  The  greatest  power  of 
this  nineteenth  century  is  the  throttle-valve  of  an  engine. 
Next  to  that  greatest  power  is  the  lever  of  those  air-brakes 
— the  stopping  power.  The  first  is  the  go-ahead  power;  the 
next  greatest  j)ower  is  the  stopping  power. 

I  was  sitting  on  an  engine  some  months  ago  with  a  friend, 
and  as  we  sat  there  talking  I  looked  ahead.  Said  I, ''  Look 
at  those  cattle  on  the  track  !''  We  were  rolling  forty  odd 
miles  an  hour.  He  just  took  hold  of  the  lever  of  his  air- 
brake and  turned  it  around,  and  slapped  on  every  brake  on 
every  wheel  and  blew  his  whistle  and  gave  the  cattle  time 
to  clear  the  track,  and  but  for  that  brake  power  that  day 
those  cattle  might  have  ditched  that  train  and  killed  half  the. 
men  on  it.     The  power  to  stop  !  The  power  to  stop  ! 

WHEN  THE  BRAKE  WON't  WORK. 

I  believe  it  was  on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Eailroad  that 
some  months  ago  a  passenger  engineer  pulled  his  great  long 
passenger  train  of  thirteen  cars,  seven  passenger  coaches  and 
four  sleepers,  heavily  up  a  steep  grade  until  he  reached  a 
tunnel.  When  he  ran  out  of  the  tunnel  he  pulled  out  his 
watch  and  saw  that  he  was  an  hour  behind  time.     He  had 


220  Uighteousness  and  Life;   Sin  and  Death. 

thirteen  miles  of  down  grade  to  the  river,  and  he  shoved  his 
lever  forward,  and  pulled  his  throttle  open;  and  that  engine 
commenced  to  roll  and  thunder  down  that  grade  until  she 
reached  a  speed  of  sixty  miles  an  hour.  Down  that  grade 
and  on  and  on  she  rolled,  with  every  pound  of  steam  thrown 
against  her  piston  heads,  until  she  came  within  a  mile  of  the 
bridge  across  the  river.  When  he  reached  thatpoint  he  shut 
the  steam  off,  and  turned  the  lever  of  the  air-brakes,  but  dis- 
covered they  were  out  of  fix.  He  instantly  awoke  to  conscious- 
ness of  his  peril,  and  said;  *'I  am  within  a  mile  of  the  river, 
with  a  speed  of  sixty-seven  miles  an  hour,  and  my  air-brakes 
out  of  fix."  Then  he  reached  out  and  caught  his  whistle-lev- 
er and  whistled  a  fearful  blast  that  called  for  "down  brakes." 
The  brakeman  ran  to  the  car  door  and  stood  there.  The  car 
wasjumjDing  and  pitching  and  tossing,  and  the  brakeman 
said  :  ^'It  is  certain  death  for  me  to  walk  out  on  that  plat- 
form to  those  brakes."  The  engineer  felt  his  train  rolling 
on  with  an  increased  impulse,  and  he  reached  out  again  and 
caught  hold  of  the  whistle-lever,  and  again  with  fearful  blast 
called  for  "down  breaks."  And  the  captain,  the  conductor,  ran 
up  to  the  rear  end  of  the  car  where  the  brakeman  stood,  and 
said  :  "  Go  out  and  put  on  those  brakes.  Don't  you  see  that 
we  are  near  the  bridge.  The  engineer  has  whistled  for  down 
brakes."  The  brakeman  said:  "Captain,  we  cannot  go  out  on 
that  platform.  It  is  certain  death  to  go  out  there.  We  can- 
not stand  here  in  the  car."  And  on  and  on  the  train  rolled, 
and  soon  swept  on  to  the  bridge.  The  first,  second,  third, 
fourth,  fifth,  sixth  and  seventh  cars  rolled  on  to  the  bridge, 
but  the  first  sleeper  swung  too  far  outto  the  left  and  struck 
the  bridge,  and  the  four  sleepers  were  hurled  into  the  river 
below,  and  the  passengers  swept  into  eternity.  What  was 
the  matter?  The  brakes  would  not  work,  that  is  all.  And  I 
tell  you  here  to-night  in  St.  Louis  there  are  twenty  thousand 
men  that  have  pulled  to  the  top  of  the  grade  and  have  start- 
ed down  and  down,  and  on  and  on  they  roll  to-day,  and  ev- 
ery brake  on  their  nature  is  gone  forever. 

POOR  BOB  HERRICK. 

Poor  Bob  Herrick,  at  Eome,  a  good-natured,  kind-hearted 
man  he  was,  with  a  pleading  wife,  and  against  the  advice  of 
physicians,  drinking  on  and  on  !  And  now  he  is  on  his  dying 


Bighteousness  and  Life;   Sin  and  Death.  221 

bed  and  is  surrounded  by  friends.  It  took  four  men  to  hold 
him  on  his  dying  couch,  and  when  the  last  lucid  moment 
came  he  said,  "Doctor,  is  there  any  chance  for  my  poor  life?'' 
"  No,  Bob,"  he  replied.  "  If  you  drink  you  will  die,  and  if 
you  don't  drink  you  will  die.''  And  two  hours  after,  poor 
Bob  foundered  on  the  rocks  of  damnation,  with  his  wife  and 
children  clinging  around  his  neck.  Grone!  gone!  gone  forever! 
There  are  men,  perhaps,  listening  to  me  to-night  who  will 
never  stop  cursing,  who  will  never  stop  drinking.  You 
will  die  with  an  oath  on  your  lips.  God  pity  the  man  that 
has  reached  that  point  where  he  has  said,  "  I  can  not  quit ! 
I  can  not  quit."  It  would  seem  plain  that  God  had  stricken 
such  poor  wretches  with  judicial  impotency.  Oh,  my 
friend,  to-night  let  us  put  the  brakes  on  our  nature  and 
say,  "I  will  quit!  I  will  quit!  I  will  drink  no  more !  1 
have  drunk  my  last  drop.  I  have  sworn  my  last  oath."  Let 
you  and  I  settle  that  once  and  forever,  and  say,  "  God  being 
my  judge  I  will  quit  to-night.  You  have  no  more  time  to 
throw  away.  You  need  not  catch  up  any  more  momentum. 
No,  the  momentum  some  of  you  have  will  run  you  on  and  on 
until  you  make  the  final  leap  and  you  are  gone  forever.  Your 
appetite  for  whisky  could  not  be  any  stronger.  The  appe- 
tite of  your  lustful  nature  is  such  that  you  are  debauched 
from  head  to  foot  now.  On  and  on  men  go,  until  they  awake 
to  a  realization  of  their  doom,  and  say:  "I  am  rolling  on 
with  a  momentum  that  frightens  me.  Every  brake  is  remov- 
ed from  my  machine.  I  am  doomed,  and  I  am  certain  I  will 
be  damned  at  last." 

THE  LAST  SLACKING  UP. 

Look  here,  friend;  let  us  stop  to-night.  I  tell  you  I  verily 
believe  that  if  I  had  not  stopped  at  my  father's  dying  couch, 
fourteen  years  ago,  I  believe  that  would  have  been  my  last 
slacking  up.  I  believe  that  if  I  had  not  then  said,  "Father !" 
father!  I  speak  it  from  the  depths  of  my  nature,  I  have 
quit — I  am  done  forever" — I  believe,  right  then  and  there, 
that  was  my  only  chance  to  stop  and  recover  myself.  And, 
blessed  be  God,  I  made  that  stop.  Blessed  be  God!  there 
was  a  turning-table  right  there,  and  on  that  turning-table  I 
rolled  my  engine,  and  turned  round,  and  I  am  rolling  the 
other  way  to-night,  I  trust  with  amomentum  that  will  sweep 
me  into  the  kingdom  of  God  by-and-by. 


^2^  Righteousness  and  Life;   Sin  and  l>eath. 

And  he  that  pursueth  evil  pursueth  it  to  the  death  of  his 
intellect  and  his  reason.  I  believe  that  men  sin  against  their 
intellect  until  they  get  to  a  point  where  their  minds  can  no 
more  grasp  Scriptural  truth  than  they  can  make  a  world. 
In  G-eorgia,  in  my  own  State,  in  one  of  the  towns  there,  a 
lawyer  of  great  legal  ability  would  come  out  and  hear  me 
every  time  I  preached  there,  and  shake  hands  with  me.  On 
one  occasion  I  met  him  the  next  day,  and  he  said:  "I  like 
to  hear  you  preach.  You  seem  to  be  candid  and  honest,  but 
the  gospel  you  preach  is  the  veriest  nonsense  in  the  world 
tome.  I  can  see  nothing  in  it. ^'  Oh,  me,  brother,  the  poor 
old  fellow  has  sinned  until  a  lie  seemed  to  be  the  truth  to 
him,  and  the  truth  a  lie,  and  I  verily  believe  a  man  can  so 
distort  his  mind  and  becloud  his  intellect, that  he  cannot 
grasp  a  Scriptural  truth  any  easier  than  he  can  make  a  world. 
Oh,  friends,  let  us  stop  to-night!  God  pity  the  man  that  de- 
bauches his  intellect  and  rolls  on  and  on  and  on. 

And  then,  lastly — and  I  will  be  through  in  a  word  or  two : 
He  that  pursueth  evil  pursueth  it  to  the  death  of  his  own  soul. 

Oh,  me,  I  can  understand  you  when  you  say  a  man  has 
sinned  his  conscience  to  death,  has  sinned  his  sensibilities 
to  death,  and  destroyed  his  power  of  resistance,  and  sinned 
his  reason  away;  but,  oh,  sir,  when  you  tell  me  that  sin  will 
kill  the  soul,  when  it  comes  to  the  death  of  the  soul,  then  I 
stagger  back,  and  I  am  lost  in  wonder  and  in  dread.  The 
death  of  the  soul !  Take  these  two  words  ''Death,"  "eter- 
nal;" "eternal,"  "death."  Both  of  these  words  are  the 
most  dreadful  in  our  language,  but  coupled  together,  oh,  what 
a  compound!  Eternal  death.  Death  eternal!  What  does 
it  mean?     The  death  of  the  soul !     The  death  of  the  soul ! 

DEATH    OF    THE    BODY. 

The  death  of  the  body.  I  see  this  body.  I  have  walked 
up  to  the  dying  couch  of  a  friend  and  stood  over  him  as 
death  was  doing  its  work  on  his  body.  I  have  watched  him 
closer  and  closer  as  death  came  upon  him.  I  have  watched 
him  to  the  point  where  there  was  a  glare  in  his  eye,  and  a 
twitching  in  the  muscles  of  his  face,  and  a  jerking  in  his 
nerves,  and  a  heaving  of  his  bosom;  and  then  I  walked  oflP 
and  shut  my  eyes  and  said :  "Oh,  death,  how  cruel  thou  art 
to  that  loved  friend  ! "    I  have  gone  back  and  put  my  hands 


Bighteousness  and  Life;   Sin  and  Death.  223 

on  him,  and  he  has  had  the  same  glare  in  his  eyes,  the  same 
heaving  of  the  bosom,  the  same  jerking  of  the  nerves,  the 
same  twitching  of  the  muscles;  and  I  looked  and  went  away 
again  and  said  :  "Temporal  death  is  not  eternal  death." 

And  then  I  ask,  "eternal  death,  what  is  it?  Oh,  does  it 
mean  an  everlasting  glare  of  the  eye?  Is  it  an  everlasting 
jerking  of  the  muscles?  Is  it  an  everlasting  twitching  of  the 
nerves?  Is  it  an  everlasting  heaving  of  the  bosom?  Is  it  to 
die  forever?"     And  yet  I  can  never  die.     Oh,  God, 

Help  me  to  make  my  own  election  sure, 

And  when  I  fail  on  earth,  secure 

A  mansion  in  the  skies. 

THE   DEATH   OF   THE    SOUL. 

Oh,  thank  God  Almighty,  there  is  no  death  to  a  good  man. 
On  my  first  pastorate  a  good  man  died.  Death  robbed  him 
of  his  flesh  and  strength  day  after  day,  month  after  month; 
and  I  walked  into  his  chamber  the  day  before  he  died,  and  I 
saw  that  death  had  stripped  him  of  almost  every  ounce  of 
his  flesh.  I  said,  "Oh,  literally, here  is  nothing  left  butskin 
and  emaciated  bones."  I  can  never  forget  how  death  had 
done  its  work  on  him,  and  there  he  was  without  the  power 
to  raise  his  hand  or  move  his  body.  And  one  morning  death 
w^alkcd  in  at  the  door  and  struck  him  its  last  fatal  stab.  And 
as  death  walked  up  to  his  bed  he  looked  it  in  the  face  and 
pushed  his  bony  hands  out  before  him.  As  death  made  a 
stab  at  his  bosom,  he  bared  it  to  death,  and  as  death  struck 
the  blow  he  said,  "Life  eternal !  Eternal  life;"  and  sweptout 
of  the  body  and  was  gone  forever.  And  I  said,  "Blessed  be 
God,  that  as  death  did  its  worst  and  struck  its  last  blow  he 
cried,  'Eternal  life,'  right  in  its  face." 

Blessed  be  God,  I  believe  in  eternal  life.  I  cannot  live 
with  any  other  thought.  Just  thirty  years  ago  I  tip-toed 
into  my  father's  parlor,  one  morning,  and  they  said,  "Be 
quiet;  mamma's  dead!"  I  was  not  old  enough  to  under- 
stand it.  I  walked  up  to  the  casket  and  looked  down  upon 
my  mother.  She  looked  paler  and  sadder  than  I  had  ever 
seen  her,  and  when  they  removed  the  lid  father  kissed  her, 
and  elder  brother  kissed  her,  and  I  kissed  her,  and  I  said: 
"Precious  mamma's  lips  are  so  cold."  She  has  been  buried 
in  the  State  of  Alabama  thirty  years,  and  if  I  w^as  to  go  down 
there  to-morrow  and  dig  the  earth  off  of  my  mother's  body 


224  Bighteousness  and  Life;  Sin  and  Death, 

and  disinter  her  bones,  I  expect  I  could  gather  them  all  up 
in  my  hands,  and  as  I  would  stand  there  looking  at  my 
mother's  bones,  would  say,  "Great  God,  is  this  all  that  is  left 
of  my  precious  mother  ?''  And  as  I  stand  looking  at  those 
bones  my  knees  smite  together,  and  I  am  in  despair,  and  all 
at  once  a  voice  s^^eaks  audibly  in  my  ear  and  says: 

For  this  corruptible  must  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put 
on  immortality. 

And  I  look  up  and  say; 

Thanks  be  unto  God  that  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

A   GOOD    man's   death. 

Death  of  a  good  man — what  is  it?  What  is  it?  Death  to 
a  sinner — what  is  it?  Here  he  is  now, bound  hand  and  foot; 
there  he  is,  without  power  to  move,  and  here  comes  a  veno- 
mous reptile  and  approaches  closer  and  closer,  w^ithout 
power  to  get  out  of  the  way  of  it.  He  looks  at  its  ap- 
proach, and  it  comes  closer  and  begins  to  coil  around  his 
limbs  and  around  his  body,  and  in  the  cold  embraces  of  the 
venomous  reptile  he  shudders,  and  when  the  snake  makes 
its  last  coil  around  his  body  and  draws  back  its  head  for  the 
fatal  bite,  he  looks  down  its  mouth  and  sees  the  fatal  fangs 
of  damnation  and  death.  The  snake  recoils  a  moment,  and 
then  plunges  his  fatal  fangs  into  his  victim,  and  then  in  the 
pangs  of  agony  and  death  he  dies  forever!  But  the  Chris- 
tian !  The  snake  approaches  the  Christian.  He  does  not  ap- 
pear to  be  able  to  get  out  of  its  way,  but  just  as  it  approach- 
es, a  kind  hand  reaches  down  and  takes  hold  of  the  head  of 
the  snake,  pries  its  mouth  open  and  takes  out  the  fangs  right 
before  the  eyes  of  the  Christian,  and  turns  the  offensive 
snake  into  the  inoffensive  snake;  and  the  snake  coils  itself 
around  his  body ;  and  he  recoils  because  he  is  in  the  embrace 
of  a  serpent;  but  when  the  serpent  draws  back  for  its  last 
bite,  the  Christian  laughs  and  says: 

Oh,  death!  where  is  thy  sting;  oh,  grave!  where  is  thy  victory? 
And  leaps  out  of  the  body  forever. 

THE   LAST   APPEAL. 

Oh,  brother,  let  us  never  sin  !  Oh,  brother,  let  us  endeavor 
to  begin  a  new  life  to-night.  Brother  and  sister,  let  us  never 
die.     Let  us  give  ourselves  to  God  and  begin  eternal  life. 


Righteousness  and  Life;  Sin  and  Death. 


':>t> 


I  want  to  say  in  conclusion,  I  sympathize  with  every  man 
that  is  not  a  Christian.  Will  every  man  that  is  not  a  Chris- 
tian stand  up,  and  by  doing  so  say  :  ''  I  want  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian/' 

[A  great  many  persons  rose  to  their  feet.] 

Now,  before  we  dismiss  the  congregation  I  want  every 
member  of  any  church  to  stand  up  and  say  :  *'  I  pledge  my- 
self  anew  to  God  for  a  better  life.  I  am  going  to  do  better. 
I  am  going  to  set  a  better  example  to  my  children  and  to 
my  city.'' 

[Almost  the  whole  congregation  stood.] 

Oh,  brethren !  what  a  victory  for  Christ  J 


^EF^MON  XIII. 

"VY^/lQEP    Of    ^IN    Vg.  fHE    -(^IFT    OF    'QoD. 


The  wages  of  sin  is  death,  but  the  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life  through  Jesus 
Ohrist  our  Lord. — John  2 ;  10. 

Really,  that  should  be  the  text;  but  we  will  take  this  text, 
^  because  it  illustrates  the  principle  we  want  to  discuss: 
But  thou  hast  kept  the  good  wine  until  now. 
I  want  to  say  to  you  before  I  proceed  that  I  feel  less  like 
preaching  to-night  and  more  like  talking.  I  feel  like  i 
wanted  to  talk  to  each  man  and  woman  just  as  if  we  were 
sittiLg  in  our  parlor  or  sitting  in  your  family  room  face  to 
face.  Let  us  talk  about  this,  and  you  talk  back  at  me  with 
vour  mind,  and  let  us  see  where  we  will  get  to-night  in  this 
discussion. 

There  are  two  questions  that  alwaj-s  come  up  natural/'y 
*ind  legitimately,  and,  you  might  say,  inevitably  between 
employer  and  employe.  There  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a 
contract  for  labor  without  the  asking  and  answering  of  two 
questions.  Now,  if  you  seek  to  employ  a  man  for  a  day  or  a 
year  or  an  hour,  the  first  natural  and  inevitable  question  on 
his  part  will  be :  What  kind  of  work  do  you  want  me  to  do  ? 
And  when  this  question  is  satisfactorily  answered  there  )S 
another  just  as  inevitable  and  natural,  and  that  is:  What 
will  you  pay  me  for  it?  We  say  these  two  questions  are  at 
the  very  basis  of  all  contracts  for  labor.  There  can  be  no 
intelligent  agreement  without:  1.  The  question.  What  kind 
of  work  do  you  want  me  to  do?  And  2.  What  will  you  pay 
me  for  it  ? 

WHOSE   SERVANT   AM   I  ? 

Now,  tbere  are  persons  here  to-night  who  may  boast  of 
the  fact:  *'I  never  was  in  the  employment  of  any  one;  1 
never  sustained  tho  relationship  of  a  hired  servant.'^  They 
boast  of  the  fact  that  they  live  under  the  freest  Governmen\ 
the  world  ever  saw,  whose  very  Constitution  guarantees  tc 
226 


Wages  of  Sin  vs.  The  Gift  of  God.  227 

every  man  his  life,  and  his  liberty  and  his  property.  And 
yet  there  is  a  very  special  sense  in  which  we  are  all  ser- 
vants, and  there  is  a  very  special  sense  in  which  we  are  em- 
ployed, and  there  is  an  awful  sense  in  which  pay-day  is 
coming. 

Now,  whose  servant  am  I  ?  In  a  spiritual  sense  every  man 
is  a  servant.  He  has  his  master  and  his  employment,  and 
pay-day  is  coming.  Now,  whose  servant  am  I?  "We  may 
settle  that  very  easily  in  a  very  short  time.     St.  Paul  said 

To  whom  ye  yield  yourselves  servants  to  obey,  his  servants  ye  are  to  whora 
ye  obey,  whether  of  sin  uuto  death  or  of  obedience  unto  righteousness. 

Our  Savior  said  : 

No  man  can  serve  two  masters.  For  either  he  will  hate  the  one  and  love  the 
other,  or  else  he  will  hold  to  the  one  and  despise  the  other. 

He  said  something  a  little  stronger  than  that: 

He  that  gathereth  not  with  me  scattereth  abroad. 

The  dividing  line  is  so  narrow  that  no  man  can  stand  on 
that  line.  I  am  either  on  the  one  side  or  the  other.  There 
are  a  great  many  men  here  to-night,  though,  that  will  tell 
you — you  go  to  them  with  a  question  like  this : 

"Are  you  a  bad  man  ?  " 

''  No,  sir." 

"  Are  you  a  good  man  V 

"  No,  sir." 

A   MIXED   LOT. 

Neither  good  nor  bad.  There  are  a  great  many  of  this 
sort  in  the  world.  Eeally  they  are  in  the  majority.  Well, 
now  let  me  tell  you.  There  are  two  characters  in  every 
community  I  have  ever  been  in,  that  are  a  puzzle  to  half  the 
community.  One  character  is  that  member  of  the  Church 
that  will  pray  in  public  and  pray  in  his  family,  and  do  any- 
thing the  Church  wants  him  to  do,  and  pays  liberally,  but 
he  don't  treat  his  fellow-men  right;  won't  pay  his  debts; 
won't  live  right  toward  his  fellow-men.  He  seems  to  do 
everything  that  God  wants  him  to  do  and  do  right  toward 
God,  but  he  don't  treat  his  neighbor  right.  Well,  now, 
here's  the  other  one  standing  right  by  his  side.  He's  a  just 
man  and  pays  his  debts;  he  is  generous  to  the  poor;  he 
seems  to  be,  all  in  all,  a  good  citizen.  Well,  now,  there  the 
two  stand,  and  the  balance  of  the  community,  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  community,  stand  and  look  at  these  two  char- 
16 


228  Wages  of  Sin  vs.  The  Gift  of  God. 

acters  and  say :  "  Well,  I'd  rather  be  that  man  out  of  the 
Church  that's  just  and  generous  and  pays  his  debts,  than  to 
be  that  man  in  the  Church  that  mistreats  his  neighbors." 
Well,  why  do  you  want  to  be  a  fool  and  be  like  either  one? 
I  don't,  I  assure  you,  and  by  the  grace  of  Grod  I  don't  intend 
to  be  like  either  one.  I  am  going  to  do  right  toward  God, 
and  I'm  going  to  do  right  toward  man,  and  there's  the 
whole  man. 

This  is  the  first  and  great  commandment:  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord,  thy 
Grod,  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind.  And  the 
second  is  like  unto  it;  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself. 

No  man  who  is  an  enemy  to  his  neighbor  is  a  true  friend 
to  Grod.  And  no  man  who  is  an  enemy  of  God  can  be  a  true 
friend  to  his  neighbor.  A  half-man  !  A  half-man !  He  will 
do  right  towards  his  neighbor.  He  won't  do  right  towards 
God.  He  will  do  right  towards  God,  but  won't  do  right  to- 
wards his  neighbor.  Now,  my  friend,  I  say  in  all  love  and 
kindness,  if  you  are  of  these,  I  don't  want  to  be  like  you.  I 
don't  care  which  character  you  represent,  and,  God  helping 
me,  I  want  to  do  right  towards  God,  and  I  want  to  do  right 
towards  my  fellow-men.  And  after  all,  these  men,  neither 
good  nor  bad,  you  ask  them  :  "  Will  you  go  to  heaven  if  you 
die?"  ^'No,  sir;  I  hardly  think  I  will."  '^  Go  to  hell?" 
"No,  sir;  I  don't  think  I'll  go  to  hell."  And  this  sort  will 
necessitate  some  kind  of  third  universe  or  world  in  eternity. 
You  are  not  fit  for  heaven ;  you  admit  it,  and  you  are  hardly 
bad  enough  to  go  to  hell.  And  here  you  are,  and  you  have 
been  to  God  and  to  this  community  all  your  life  in  just  such 
an  attitude  as  that. 

NO  NEUTRAL  GROUND. 

Brother,  let  me  say  this  unto  you,  you  are  on  one  side 
or  the  other.  I  recollect  once  at  a  county  camp-meeting  a 
gentleman  approached  me,  and  said  : 

''I'm  mighty  glad  to  see  this  grand  work  going  on  here. 
I  hope  this  whole  community  will  be  saved." 

''  Well,"  says  I,  "  thank  you,  brother.  What  Church  do 
you  belong  to?" 

He  said:  "I  don't  belong  to  the  Church,  but,"  he  says, 
'^'m  a  Christian." 

I  said  :  "You  a  Christian,  and  not  belong  to  any  Church  ! 
Why,  you  are  the  man  I've  been  looking  for,  too,  these  many 


Wages  of  Sin  vs.  The  Gift  of  God.  229 

years.  I've  offered  a  reward — a  large  reward — for  one  of 
your  sort.  Christians  are  sort  of  scarce  in  the  Church,  and 
the  Lord  knows  I  didn't  know  there  was  one  out  of  the 
Church.  I'm  gone  lost  now.  I've  found  an  anomaly  in  the 
moral  universe  of  God — a  Christian  out  of  the  Church!" 
And  I  said  to  him,  ''I  am  mighty  glad  to  meet  you,  sir. 
Now,"  said  I,  ''  this  afternoon,  when  I  call  up  the  penitents^ 
I  want  to  call  on  you  to  pray  for  them." 

"  Oh,  no  !"  he  savs.     ''  I  can't  pray  in  public." 

Said  I,  ''  Why  ?  "' 

Said  he,  ^'  Because  I  am  not  a  member  of  the  Church." 

"  Well,'"  said  I,  "  when  the  service  is  over  this  afternoon, 
take  one  of  the  boys — one  of  the  penitents — out  from  the  al- 
tar, and  go  out  into  the  woods  and  pray  with  him." 

"  Oh,  no  !  "  he  says.  '^  I  can't  do  that." 

^'Why?"  said  I. 

^'  Because  I'm  not  a  member  of  the  Church,  Mr.  Jones." 

^' Well,"  said  I,  *'  can't  you  just  take  one  of  the  boys  by 
the  arm  and  carry  him  off  out  in  the  woods  and  talk  with 
him  about  Christ  ?  " 

"JS'o!'^  he  said,  ^'my  trouble  is,  I'm  not  a  member  of  the 
Church." 

"No,  sir,"  said  I.  "That  ain't  your  trouble.  Your  trouble 
is,  you  belong  to  the  devil  from  your  hat  to  your  heels ! 
That's  your  trouble." 

He  that  is  not  with  me,  is  against  me  ;  and  he  that  gathereth  not  with  me, 
scattereth  abroad. 

SETTLING   THE    QUESTION. 

There  is  no  neutral  ground,  sir.  Every  Christian  man  has 
his  banner  and  his  weapon,  and  he  is  out  in  the  front  ranks, 
and  he  is  fighting  for  Christ  and  for  his  cause.  Now,  whose 
servant  am  I? 

To  whom  ye  yield  yourselves  servants  to  obey,  his  servants  ye  are. 
Well,  now,  let's  settle  this  question,  each  one  for  himself. 
The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  said  this: 
If  ye  love  me,  keep  my  commandments. 
Do  you  do  that? 
No,  sir. 
He  said  again : 
Come  out  from  among  them  and  be  ye  separate. 


230  Wages  of  JSin  vs.  The  Gift  of  God. 

Have  you  done  that? 

No,  sir. 
Deny  yourself  and  take  up  your  cross  and  follow  me. 

Have  you  done  that? 

No,  sir. 

Well,  that  settles  the  question  beyond  all  cavil  that  you 
are  not  a  servant  of  the  Lord  God,  and  then,  if  you  are  not  a 
servant  of  the  Lord  God  Almighty,  there  is  but  one  alterna- 
tive you  have  :  you  are  a  servant  of  the  devil.  Every  man 
that  walks  this  earth  is  a  loving,  willing,  cheerful  servant  of 
God,  or  he  is  a  servant  of  the  devil — one  or  the  other. 

Now,  will  you  slip  up  to  your  master,  the  devil,  and  ask 
him  what  kind  of  work  he  wants  you  to  do  ?  Ah  me!  That 
seems  like  a  foolish  proposition  !  What  kind  of  work  docs 
the  devil  want  his  servants  to  do  ?  He  wants  them  to  pro- 
fane the  name  of  God  ;  to  violate  the  Sabbath ;  to  bear  false 
witness;  to  do  a  thousand  things  that  we  are  guilty  of  every 
day.  He  wants  me  to  do  those  things  that  will  make  my 
wife  think  less  of  me,  and  make  my  children  think  less  of 
me,  and  make  my  parents  think  less  of  me.  He  wants  me  to 
do  those  things  that  are  disreputable,  and  that  dishonor  God, 
and  that  will  doom  my  soul  forever.  Isn't  that  so?  I  can 
prove  it  by  fifty  thousand  sinners  in  St.  Louis  that  this  is 
true. 

THE   devil's  wages. 

Then,  if  I  must  do  such  disreputable  work  as  this,  ana  must 
engage  in  such  disreputable  employment  as  that,  what  are  the 
wages?  Woe  and  misery  and  anguish  on  earth  and  damna- 
tion in  the  end.  Is  that  so  ?  Well,  there  are  thousands  of 
sinners  living  and  thousands  in  eternity  to-night  that  are 
living  witnesses  to  the  truth  that  the  devil  would  ruin  them 
upon  earth  and  degrade  them  in  time  and  damn  them  in 
eternity.  Pay  day  is  coming.  It  has  come  to  millions.  It 
is  now  coming  to  thousands.     What  are  the  wages  ? 

Preaching  once  in  my  own  church  on  aline  of  thought  like 
this,  I  turned  to  an  old  gray-headed  sinner  sitting  over  to 
my  left.  Said  I:  "  There  you  are,  after  sixty  odd  years  of 
age,  and  I  wish  you  would  get  up  and  tell  this  congregation 
your  wages  for  sixty-five  years  of  sinful  bondage."  The  old 
man  twisted  and  turned  in  his  pew,  and  next  day  he  met  me 
on  the  road,  and  said  ho:    ^'Oh,  Jones,  when  you  put  that 


Wages  of  Sin  vs.  The  Gift  of  God,  231 

question  to  me  Lnst  night,  if  I  had  stood  up  and  told  the  plain 
truth  it  would  have  frightened  many  a  soul  last  night.  I  can 
tell  you,  sir,  that  for  sixty-five  years  of  sinful  bondage,  all  I 
have  to  show  for  it  in  the  world  is  the  most  godless  family 
in  all  this  settlement,  and  a  hard  heart,  and  a  stiff  neck,  and 
a  rebellious  soul,  and  no  assurance  at  all  that  I  will  ever  be 
saved." 

Oh,  sir,  when  a  man  of  sixty-five  years  of  age  reaches  a 
point  where  his  stock  in  trade  is  all  things  like  that,  it  is 
enough  to  frighten  a  man  who  has  not  gone  farther  than  some 
of  you  boys. 

Then,  if  I  be  a  servant  of  the  Lord  God — and,  thank  God, 
he  has  many  servants  in  this  city — the  question  comes  up. 
What  does  the  Lord  God  want  his  servants  to  do  ?  He  wants 
me  to  love  mercy,  and  to  do  justly,  and  to  walk  humbly  be- 
fore God.  He  wants  me  to  bear  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  which 
are  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  goodness; 
faith,  meekness,  temperance.  He  wants  me  to  work  dili- 
gently and  work  righteousness  and  speak  the  truth  in  my 
heart.  He  wants  me  to  do  those  things  that  will  make  my 
wife  think  more  of  me,  and  that  will  make  my  neighbor  think 
more  of  me,  and  make  my  children  think  more  of  me.  He 
wants  me  to  do  those  things  that  will  honor  me  in  time,  and 
elevate  my  soul  every  day,  and  ultimately  bring  me  to  the 
saint's  everlasting  rest  in  a  world  of  bliss  and  peace". 

A  DELIGHTFUL  SERVICE. 

Now,  brother,  if  this  is  true,  the  Lord  wan^  us  to  serve 
him  gladly  and  serve  him  joyfully,  and  there  is  nothing  that 
the  Lord  wants  me  to  do  that  I  wonH  be,  in  doing  it,  a  bet- 
ter merchant,  a  better  farmer,  a  better  lawyer,  a  better  doc- 
tor, a  better  mechanic,  a  belter  everything  and  anything; 
for  religion  is  the  best  thing  on  earth  to  mix  with  life,  and 
there  is  nothing  better  in  heaven  than  religion. 

Now,  there  are  some  seemingly  hard  things  we  have  to  do 
for  Christ,  but  I  will  honor  him  with  the  following  declara- 
tion, which  is  as  true  as  earth  or  heaven  ever  listened  to. 
Listen  :  I  have  done  some  seemingly  hard  things,  but  the 
hardest  thing  I  ever  did  for  Christ  was  the  thing  that  made 
me  most  like  him  after  T  got  through  with  it.  He  that  sweats 
and  toils  and  suffers  for  Christ  shall  have  flagons  of  joy  and 


232  Wages  of  Si?i  vs.  The  Gift  of  God, 

rivers  of  pleasure  for  every  tear  and  pang  he  has  ever  had. 
Now,  if  it  is  such  delightful  service  that  I  am  to  render 
in  the  employ  of  my  God,  what  is  the  pay?  Whatis  the 
pay  ?  Why,  brother,  he  gives  me  enough  cash  to  live  on  every 
day,  and  when  I  get  old  and  wrinkled  and  gray-headed,  and 
cannot  work  any  longer,  God  comes  down  and  picks  me  up 
in  his  loving  arms,  and  carries  me  home  to  heaven  to  live  for- 
ever and  ever. 

WHY  NOT  SERVE  GOD  ? 

Is  that  true  ?  True  as  heaven.  Then  I  stop  and  ask  my- 
self this  question  :  If  these  things  are  true,  and  this  world 
knows  they  are,  then  what?  Why  is  it  that  every  man  in 
the  world  is  not  a  servant  of  God?  Why  is  it  that  there  is 
a  servant  of  the  devil  in  the  universe?  If  the  devil  wants 
to  employ  me  in  disreputable  service  and  degrading  service, 
and  it  is  misery  and  anguish  in  time  and  damnation  in  eter- 
nity, and  God  gives  me  delightful,  joyous  employment  and 
helps  me  to  build  a  character  that  will  stand  the  test  of 
judgment,  and  finally  sits  me  down  on  the  streets  of  the  par- 
adise of  God  a  saved  man — if  one  is  true  and  the  other  is  true, 
why  is  it  that  there  is  a  servant  of  the  devil  in  all  this  broad 
land  ?    Now,  let  us  see  why — 

Thou  hast  kept  the  good  wine  until  now. 

This  text  illustrates  a  principle  in  this  moral  universe  on 
both  sides  of  the  question.  The  deviTs  economy  is  to  give  the 
best  he  has  got  first,  and  then  it  gets  worse  through  all  eter- 
nity. Now,  to  illustrate — and  I  always  could  illustrate  a 
thing  faster,  and  perhaps   better,  than  I  could  talk  it : 

THE  PALACE  OP  SIN. 

Now,  when  I  was  a  ten  or  twelve  years'  old  boy,  the 
devil  took  me  up  into  a  large  capacious  palace — a  magnifi- 
cient  structure  it  was,  beautiful,  glorious  in  all  its  architectur- 
al beauty.  He  carried  me  into  the  palace  and  led  me  around, 
and  I  looked  upon  and  worshiped  the  pictures  hanging 
around  the  walls  ;  and  then  I  looked  at  the  beautiful  carpets 
on  the  floor ;  I  looked  at  those  beautiful  windows,  with  their 
lace  curtains.  I  looked  again  and  there  was  a  table  of  pleas- 
ure, and  a  chair  of  ease,  a  sofa  of  contentment,  and  oh,  how 
many  thousand  things  in  that  palace  charmed  my  heart.  And 
then  he  said  to  me:  '^  If  you  will  be  my  servant,  all  this  is 


Wages  of  Sin  vs.   The  Gift  of  God,  233 

yours/'  And  I  surveyed  those  pictures,  and  those  beauties, 
and  that  elegant  furniture,  and  that  beautiful  palace,  inside 
and  out,  and  I  said  :  "  Well,  sir,  I  enter  your  service.  If  all 
this  is  mine,  what  do  I  care  for  God  and  heaven  and  ever- 
lasting life?''  And  I  took  possession.  I  remained  in  there  joy- 
fully several  days.  But  I  walked  out  one  day,  and  when  I  re- 
turned I  saw  my  chair  of  ease  was  gone,  and,  somehow  or 
other,  I  never  felt  rs  easy  in  there  afterward  as  I  did  before. 
I  returned  another  day,  and  my  sofa  of  contentment  was 
gone,  and,  somehow  or  other,  I  never  felt  contented  in  there 
after  that.  I  came  back  another  day,  and  my  table  of  pleas- 
ure was  gone,  and,  somehow  or  other,  the  pleasure  had  de- 
parted with  the  table. 

ILLUSIVE    PLEASURES. 

I  came  back  another  day,  and  one  of  those  beautiful  win- 
dows had  been  removed  and  a  solid  wall  was  placed  in  its 
stead,  and  I  said,  ^'  It  is  not  quite  as  light  in  here  as  it  once 
was."  I  came  back  another  day — a  beautiful  picture  was  re- 
moved, and  how  blank  that  wall  looked  !  Another  day,  and 
another  piece  of  furniture  gone.  Back  another  day,  and  a 
window  gone — perceptibly  darker.  Another  day,  and  a 
door  had  been  removed, and  I  said,  ''There  are  not  as  many 
ways  of  ingress  and  egress  now  as  I  once  had/'  And  on  and 
on  and  on,  until  by-and-by  the  last  picture  was  gone,  the  last 
window  had  been  removed,  and,  oh,  how  dark  and  glooms- 
was  my  home!  And  again,  and  again,  and  the  carpets  were 
all  taken  up,  and  how  bare  and  cold  that  floor !  And  again, 
and  again,  and  another  door  removed,  until  the  last  door 
had  been  removed  except  one,  and  the  windows  were  re- 
moved, and  everything  gone,  and  oh,  how  desolate !  But 
fourteen  years  ago,  the  latter  part  of  August  last,  I  walked 
out  of  that  palace  to  see  my  father  die,  and  I  promised  him 
I'd  never  go  back  any  more. 

THE   WAGES   OF    SIN   IS   DEATH. 

I  know  a  man  that  staid  there  just  a  little  longer  than  I 
did — my  friend  he  was.  He  staid  there  until  the  last  piece 
of  furniture  was  gone,  and  every  window  removed,  and  the 
doors  all  taken  out,  and  he  said,  "I  can't  get  out  of  that 
large,  capacious  palace/'  The  walls  were  coming  together 
every  day,  every  hour,  and  on  Thursday  night,  about  one 


234  Wages  of  Sin  vs.  The  Gift  of  God, 

o'clock,  as  his  wife  stood  by  his  bedside,  the  walls  of  that 
palace  crushed  together,  and  he  admitted  with  his  dying 
breath  that  "the  wages  of  sin  is  death." 

My  God !  how  many  souls  in  St.  Louis  there  are  encom- 
passed in  that  palace  to-night!  How  many  in  there,  with 
doors  all  removed  and  windows  taken  out;  and  they  will 
realize  some  of  these  days,  as  the  walls  crush  together,  that 
"the  wages  of  sin  is  death.'' 

SIN    PROMISES   BEST   AT   FIRST. 

But  how  on  the  other  side?  This  is  but  a  picture  of  life, 
brethren.  Life!  Why,  I  can  remember  the  first  dram  I  ever 
drank.  It  made  me  feel  manly.  I  thought,  "Well,  surely  I 
have  found  the  elixir  of  life,  the  grand  panacea  for  all  sad 
feelings."  But  I  drank,  and  drank,  until  I  despised  myself, 
and  loathed,  and  loathed,  and  loathed  my  very  being,  because 
I  was  a  miserable  drunkard.  I  recollect  the  first  oath  I  ever 
swore.  I  thought  it  sounded  manly.  But  I  cursed  and  swore 
until  I  was  a  black-mouthed  villain,  and  I  despised  myself 
when  I  walked  into  the  presence  of  a  Christian  gentleman. 

Oh,  my  congregation,  to-night  I  tell  you  that  sin  has  its 
richest,  sweetest  ingredient  at  the  top  of  the  cup,  but  as  you 
go  down,  and  down  and  down,  the  bitterest  drink  that  a 
human  being  can  swallow  is  the  last  dregs  of  the  sinner's 
life.  Oh,  how  painful  !  Some  of  you  know  that  to  be  true. 
The  devil  ofi'ers  and  gives  the  best  first,  and  it  gets  worse 
and  worse  and  worse  through  all  eternity!  And  there  is 
not  a  sinner  twenty-five  years  old  in  this  house  but  what  you 
will  realize  in  eternity  that  you  saw  more  real  pleasure  in  a 
life  of  sin  up  to  twenty  years  of  age  than  all  eternity  had  for 
you  after  that  time. 

A  STORY  OF  BYRON. 

Lord  Byron,  who  drank  of  every  cup  that  earth  could  give 
him,  and  who  had  all  the  ministries  of  earth  around  him  at  his 
bed — Lord  Byron,  with  an  intellectual  and  physical  nature 
that  could  dive  down  into  deepest  depths  and  could  soar  into 
the  highest,  and  whose  wings  when  spread  could  touch  either 
pole — that  poor  man,  just  before  he  died,  sitting  in  his  gay 
company,  was  meditative  and  moody;  and  they  looked  at 
him  and  said  :  "Byron,  what  are  you  thinking  about  so  seri- 
ously?"    "Oh,"  he  said,  "I  was  sitting  here  counting  up  the 


Wages  of  Sin  vs.  The  Gift  of  God. 


235 


number  of  happy  days  I  had  in  this  world/^  And  they  said  : 
"How  many  do  you  make  it?^^  ^'Oh/^  he  said,  "I  can  count 
but  eleven,  and  I  was  sitting  here  now  wondering  if  I  would 
ever  make  up  the  dozen  in  this  world  of  tears  and  pangs  and 
sorrows." 

Oh,  brother,  he  went  to  depths  you  know  nothing  of,  and 
to  heights  you  will  never  reach.  Let  me  say  to  you  to-night, 
you  are  reaching  the  point  like  the  great  prominent  charac- 
ter In  England,  who  was  sitting  thinking  in  his  study,  and  a 
friend  said:  "What  are  you  thinking  about?"  He  said:  "I 
was  sitting  here  looking  at  my  dog  on  the  mat,  and  wishing 
in  my  heart  I  were  that  dog  lying  there." 

Oh,  sir,  there  are  depths  to  which  humanity  can  go  where 
we  loathe  ourselves  and  despise  ourselves,  and  yet  these 
things  promise  mighty  nice  in  the  beginning. 

THE  FIRST  CUP  THE  BITTEREST. 

But  how  about  the  other  side  of  the  picture?  The  first 
thing  the  Lord  gives  to  a  man  is  the  bitterest  cup  that  he 
ever  swallowed  up  to  that  hour — the  cup  of  conviction,  re- 
pentance. Oh,  me!  When  David  took  this  cup  in  his  hand 
and  drank  it  down  he  said: 

They  gave  me  also  gall  for  my  meatc 

The  sorrows  of  death  compassed  me,  and  the  pains  of  hell  got  hold  upon 
me.    I  found  trouble  and  sorrow. 

There  is  no  experience 
in  all  the  universe  of  God 
like  the  experience  of  the 
soul  in  the  deepest  hour 
of  its  spiritual  anguish. 
And  this  cuj)  that  God 
presents — the  cup  of  con- 
viction —  to  the  honest 
soul,  oh,  how  it  makcv 
his  knees  smite  together 
and  what  wormwood  an<i 
gall  it  is ! 

I  can  never  forget  th* 
hours  in  my  life  when   1 
turned  this  world  aloose 
and   had  no  God  to  take        '' <~'oi<ld  not  jind  the  hcmd  of  God:' 
my  hand.    Oh,  brother,  for  nearly  a  week  I  was  wading  and 


236  Wages  of  Sin  vs.  The  Gift  of  God, 

wading  through  the  deepest  trials.  I  had  turned  loose  all  my 
sins,  and  I  could  not  find  the  hand  of  God.  I  was  reaching  up, 
saying,  ''Father,  take  my  hand  !  take  my  hand  !''  And  on  I 
went.  I  felt  like  the  veriest  orphan  in  all  the  universe  of  God, 
and  miserably  I  pressed  my  way  along,  the  most  forsaken  man 
in  the  world.  Thank  God  for  those  awful  hours!  They  have 
been  so  awful  to  me  that  my  footsteps  shall  never  go  back 
over  that  road.  God,  let  me  die  before  I  shall  ever  cross 
that  weary  quagmire  again  in  my  human  experience,  poor 
and  wretched  and  miserable! 

THE  GOOD  WINE. 

That  was  the  first  cup.  I  drank  it  down.  And  oh,  what 
anguish  and  misery  of  soul.  The  next  cup  God  presented  to 
my  lips  was  the  cup  of  justification,  and  I  drank  it  down, 
and  I  said,  "  Well,  surely  God  has  kept  the  good  wine  until 
now.''  Oh,  none  but  God  can  know  how  glorious  the  sinner 
feels  when  he  hears  the  voice  of  God  saying  : 
Son,  daughter,  thy  sins,  which  are  manj^,  are  forgiven ! 

That  is  the  second  cup.  And  on,  and  on — I  have  had  a 
thousand  I  think  sometimes — but  I  want  to  tell  you  it  is  bet- 
ter, better,  and  better !  And  as  you  swallow  the  cup  down,  ever 
and  anon  as  you  hand  the  cup  back  to  the  hand  of  God,  he 
tells  you,  "xlnd  still  there  is  more  to  follow.''  And  on,  and 
on,  and  on  ! 

Why,  the  first  cup  God  presented  to  St.  Paul,  he  was  strick- 
en down  in  the  road  and  struck  stone  blind.  For  three 
days  and  nights  he  groped  his  way  in  darkness  until  he 
reached  the  houseof  Ananias,  and  when  Ananias  laid  his  hands 
upon  him,  and  the  scales  fell  from  his  eyes,  and  joy  came  in- 
to his  soul,  I  expect  St.  Paul  thought,  "  Well,  God  has  kept 
the  good  wine  until  now."  And  a  few  months  after  that 
St.  Paul  was  caught  up  into  the  third  heaven,  and  poised 
himself  over  the  city  of  God,  and  looked  down  on  the  tow- 
ering spires  and  jasper  walls  and  pearly  gates,  and  his  ears 
were  charmedwith  the  songs  of  angels  and  the  music  of 
the  redeemed.  I  expect  as  he  looked  down  on  that  city  of 
God,  he  said:  "  AVell,  verily,  God  has  kept  the  good  wine 
until  now." 

A    LAST    CUP. 

But  by-and-by  in  his  lonely  prison  at  Eome  God  presented 


Wages  of  Sin  vs.   The  Gift  of  God.  237 

another  cuj),  and  St.  Paul  took  his  "oen  again  and  wrote  to 
Timothy: 

The  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand. 
He  just  took  that  great  clod  of  a  word  which  we  call 
"death/'  and  threw  it  on  one  side;  and  he  said  : 

The  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand.    I  have  fought  the  good  fight,  I 
have  finished  my  course  ;  I  have  kept  the  faith. 

But  God  stooped  over  the  parapet  of  heaven  and  shook  his 
crown  in  his  face,  and  Paul  said,  "I  will  wear  that  to- 
morrow. I  will  sleep  in  this  old  dungeon  to-night  and  eat 
a  cold  breakfast  in  the  morning,  but  I  will  take  dinner  in 
heaven  to-morrow  with  God  and  the  angels.''  And  if  we 
had  St.  Paul  down  here  to-night  to  conclude  this  service, 
and  he  should  just  tell  us  what  good  things  God  has  in  store 
for  us,  we  would  all  leave  here  shouting  the  praises  of  God 
for  the  glorious  hope  of  an  immortal  life  beyond  the  skies. 
Oh,  brother !  Better  and  better  and  better,  through  all 
eternity. 

THOUGHTS    OF    HEAVEN. 

I  have  thought  of  one  thousand  things  in  reference  to 
eternity.  I  have  thought  this  way  :  I  have  laid  down  and 
dreamed  of  heaven,  and  I  have  stood  up  and  thought  of 
heaven,  and  I  have  sat  down  and  read  of  heaven,  and  then  I 
have  sung  of  heaven,  and  on  I  go;  but,  brethren,  all  the 
money  I  have  got  in  the  universe  is  in  this  bank,  and  if  it 
don't  break  I  am  a  millionaire.  I  have  felt  it  many  a  time. 
All  my  calculations  and  all  my  interest  is  in  that  direction, 
and  if  at  the  final  day  God  should  say  to  me : 
Depart  from  me  ye  cursed  into  everlasting  fire, 

I  will  turn  back  and  walk  away  from  the  gates  of  heaven 
the  worst  disappointed  man  that  God  ever  drove  away  from 
his  presence.  No,  sir.  My  calculations  are  all  that  way. 
And  then,  after  awhile,  if  1  do  succeed  and  step  inside  of  the 
pearly  gates,  and  turn  around  and  see  God  and  angels,  and 
precious  mother  and  father  and  loved  ones,  brethren,  I  will 
just  bury  my  face  in  my  hands  and  say,  "  Sure  enough,  be- 
yond all  doubt  or  cavil,  I  am  here,  I  am  here."  And 
blessed  be  God,  I  just  as  fully  expect  to  realize  that  I  am  in 
heaven  as  I  realize  to. night  that  I  am  in  St.  Louis ;  in  fact 
more  so.     I  may  be  mistaken  about  being  in  St.  Louis;   it 


238  Wages  of  Sin  vs.  The  Gift  of  God. 

may  be  somewhere  else;  but  when  I  get  to  heaven,  there  is 
no  place  in  the  world  like  heaven,  and  I  will  know  I  am 
there,  sure  enough. 

SAM    JONES    TO    THE    DEVIL. 

When  I  was  in  Waco,  Texas,  I  was  stricken  down  by  my 
laborious  work,  with  malarial  typhoid  fever.  I  suffered  day 
after  day  and  day  after  day  for  fourteen  long  days.  I  saw 
the  anxious  care  on  the  doctor's  face  and  on  my  wife's  face, 
and  one  day  the  devil,  almost  in  his  visible  presence,  came 
into  the  room,  and,  slipping  up  to  my  bedside,  said  :  "Now, 
you  have  worked  yourself  to  death.  1*^0  w  you  are  down  with 
typho-malarial  fever.  Your  system  is  reduced,  and  your 
nervous  system  is  exhausted.  You  will  never  rally  from 
your  sickness;  you  have  worked  yourself  to  death.''  Isaid 
to  his  Majesty  :  "]!^ow,  you  get  out  of  here!  You  get  out  of 
here  !  If  I  had  it  all  to  do  over  again  I  would  not  strike  a 
lick  less.  I  do  not  care  much  if  I  do  go  to  heaven  aboutthis 
time  next  week.  Do  you  think  you  can  set  me  back  with 
that  sort  of  talk  ?"  Said  I:  ''  You  can  get  out !  You  get  out 
of  here!  If  I  have  worked  myself  to  death,  glory  be  to  God! 
I  have  worked  myself  into  heaven,  and  that  is  the  grand 
consummation  of  it  all.'' 

About  nine-tenths  of  the  reasons  why  I  want  to  stay  down 
here  is  not  because  I  think  so  grandly  of  this  old  world,  but 
I  want  to  stay  here  until  God  gives  me  time  to  elim.inate 
from  me  everything  that  ought  to  be  eliminated  before  I  go. 
As  soon  as  God  shall  empty  me  of  all  worldliness  and  all 
self,  and  fill  me  with  his  presence,  I  am  ready  to  go,  any 
time.  I  don't  want  to  be  forever  what  I  am  to-night,  I  want 
to  be  eliminated  of  some  things  and  take  in  some  other 
things  before  I  crystallize  forever  and  shall  be  forever  what 
I  am. 

A  VISION  or  PEACEFUL  DEATH. 

Better!  Better!  Well,  now  I  know  what  a  servant  of  God 
will  do  for  other  folks,  and  we  are  all  alike.  I  have  been 
watching  some  things  mighty  close  during  the  last  few  years. 
I  was  pastor  of  a  church,  and  in  that  church  there  was  one 
of  the  most  faithful,  godly  women  I  ever  saw  in  my  life.  Her 
husband  was  wealthy  and  she  gave  with  a  princely  hand  to 
the  poor  and  to  every  good  cause,  and  it  was  joy  to  her  heart 


Wages  of  Sin  vs.  The  Gift  of  God.  239 

to  work  for  the  Master.  And  finally  her  time  came  to  pass 
out  of  this  world.  I  visited  her  in  her  last  illness.  She  was 
dying'  of  consumption,  and  had  spent  several  winters  in 
Florida.  And  when  I  would  go  into  her  room  and  talk  to 
her  she  would  frequently  say,  ^'I  dread  death  ;  not  the  results 
of  death  ;  but  the  agonies  of  death."  And  I  talked  to  her 
and  encouraged  her  all  1  could.  She  said,  ''I  am  so  frail,  I 
am  so  weak,  I  can  scarcely  lift  my  hands,  and,  oh!  how  can 
I  grapple  with  physical  death  ?'^  The  last  time  I  visited  her 
before  she  died  she  motioned  to  the  company  present  to  leave 
the  room — I  suppose  she  did,  for  they  all  got  up  and  walked 
out  at  once  and  left  me  alone  with  her.     Then  she  said : 

A  FORETASTE  OF   HEAVEN. 

''My  pastor,  I  have  some  things  of  importance  to  say  to 
you  that  I  never  want  you  to  mention  while  I  live,  for  the 
world  makes  light  of  such  things,  and  what  I  say  to  you  is 
as  sacred  to  me  as  my  own  soul.  You  know  I  told  you,  when 
you  were  here  last,  that  I  was  afraid  of  the  agonies  of  death; 
not  of  the  beyond/'  "Yes,  ma'am,"  I  replied.  "Well,"  she 
says,  "I  am  not  afraid  now."  "Well,"  said  I,  "what  brought 
about  the  change  ?"  She  said,  "Yesterday  I  was  lying  in  my 
room  there,  and  I  put  my  handkerchief  over  my  face,  and  I 
was  thinking  of  heaven;  and  all  at  once  a  scene  just  as  nat- 
ural as  life  presented  itself.  It  seemed  that  I  stood  upon  the 
moss-covered  banks  of  a  beautiful  river  and  the  noiseless 
water  was  rolling  gently  by.  And  all  at  once  a  little  boat 
ran  its  prow  out  right  at  my  feet,  and  the  oarsman  invited 
me  into  the  boat,  and  I  stepped  into  the  little  boat,  and 
it  moved  off  noiselessly,  and  we  disembarked  on  the  oth- 
er bank  amid  the  shouts  of  the  angels  and  the  songs  of 
the  redeemed;  and  they  carried  me  up  a  beautiful  avenue 
to  a  palace,  and  we  walked  up  to  the  door  of  the  pal- 
ace, and  the  door  stood  ajar.  They  carried  me  into  the  pal- 
ace, and  I  felt  like  a  stranger  in  a  strange  place.  They 
carried  me  up  to  the  King  and  introduced  me  to  him,  and 
as  soon  as  my  eyes  fell  upon  him  I  saw  and  recognized  im- 
mediately that  it  was  the  world's  Redeemer,  my  precious 
Savior,  and  I  was  at  home  from  that  time  on.  l^ow,"  she 
said,  "I  am  not  afraid  to  die." 
Just  a  few  days  afterwards,  as  her  husband  sat  with  her, 


240  Wages  of  Sin  vs.  The  Gift  of  God. 

she  called  him  in  a  whisper.  He  went  to  her.  She  said  : 
"Husband,  I  feel  so  delightfully  strange;  what  do  you  think 
is  the  matter  with  me?"  He  felt  her  hand,  and  felt  her  arm 
to  her  body,  and  it  was  cold.  "Oh,  precious  wife,"  he  said, 
"you  are  dying."  She  raised  her  arms  and  clasped  them 
round  his  neck,  and  said  :  "Oh,  husband,  if  this  is  death, 
what  a  glorious  thing  to  die."  And  she  fell  back  upon  her 
pillow  and  never  breathed  another  breath. 

A   JOYOUS   REUNION. 

Just  eleven  days  after  that,  I  was  walking  along  by  the 
hotel,  and  the  husband  of  this  good  woman  said  :  "Mr.  Jones, 
my  little  Annie  is  very  sick.  I  wish  you  would  come  and 
see  her."  She  was  the  only  child  of  that  man  and  the  good 
sister  that  had  died.  As  I  walked  into  the  room,  there  was 
little  Annie,  little  ten-year-old  Annie,  sick  with  diphtheria. 
I  walked  in  and  took  her  hand,  and  said:  "Sweet  darling, 
are  you  suffering  much?"  She  said  in  a  whisper:  "Yes,  sir; 
a  good  deal."  I  said  :  "Darling,  do  you  want  me  to  talk  to 
you?"  And  she  said:  "Yes,  sir;  if  you  please."  "What 
about?"  I  asked.  She  said:  "I  want  j^ou  to  talk  to  me  about 
heaven."  I  said:  "Well,  darling,  it  is  a  great  country,  a 
glorious  place,  where  little  girls  never  suffer,  and  mamma  is 
never  sick,  and  where  all  is  life  and  health  and  peace."  And 
her  little  eyes  fairly  danced  like  diamonds  in  her  head  while 
I  talked.  And  directly  the  doctors  walked  in  and  her  fath- 
er said:  "Annie,  darling,  the  doctors  want  to  cauterize,  to 
burn  your  throat  again."  She  looked  up  so  pleadingly  and 
said  :  "Papa,  please,  sir,  donH  let  them  burn  my  throat  any 
more.  Mamma  has  been  calling  me  all  the  morning,  andl 
want  to  go."  "Why,"  he  said,  "sweet  darling,  if  you  go 
papa  won't  have  any  little  girl.  Won't  you  stay  with  papa  ?" 
"Well,"  she  said,  "they  may  burn  my  throat,  but  it  won't  do 
any  good.  I  am  going  to  mamma."  Thej^  burned  her  throat, 
and  she  lay  perfectly  quiet  a  minute  or  two.  Then  she  was 
visited  by  some  Sunday-school  children,  and  she  turned  and 
said:  "Won't  you  sing,  'Shall  We  Gather  at  the  Eiver?'" 
And  she  said  :  "I  have  heard  them  singing  it  over  there,  and 
mamma  is  joining  in."  The  little  children  began  to  sing, 
and  just  as  they  commenced  the  chorus  the  sweet  spirit  of 
little  Annie  left  the  body  with  a  placid,  heavenly  smile  on  its 


Wages  of  Sin  vs.  The  Gift  of  God,  241 

face,  and  went  home  to  live  with  her  mamma  forever.     No 
wonder  the  old  prophet  said  : 

Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous  and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his. 
•X-  ■?«•  *  ]\Xjii-]^  the  perfect  man  and  behold  the  upright,  for  the  end  of  that 
man  is  peace. 

THE   VISION   or    SATANIC    CAPTURE. 

Peace!  Peace!  JSTow  another  incident  (and  then  I  will 
quit),  just  to  show  you  the  difference;  a  simple  contrast.  I 
wantj'ou  to  see  it.  During  the  last  cruel  war — and  how 
cruel  it  was — a  minister  in  our  State  was  summoned  to  Vir- 
ginia by  a  telegram,  which  read: 

Your  brother  is  mortally  wounded.    Hurry  to  the  front. 

This  minister  hurried  to  the  front  as  fast  as  the  train  could 
carry  him  to  the  battlefields  of  Virginia.  When  he  reached 
Virginia  he  found  his  brother  was  wounded  sure  enough 
fatally.  He  was  in  a  country  home,  and  he  made  haste  to 
the  place,  and  when  he  walked  into  the  room  where  his  suf- 
fering brother  was  lying  he  went  up  to  the  bed  and  took  his 
hand.  He  saw  im.mediatcly  that  death  was  doing  its  work, 
and  he  said  :  ^'Brother,  I  am  so  glad  to  get  here  before  your 
death.  Brother,  I  am  so  anxious  about  j^our  soul.  You  have 
been  a  wicked  man  all  your  life;  I  have  prayed  for  you, 
and  talked  with  you  many  a  time.  Kow,  brother,  brother, 
will  you  right  here  surrender  your  heart  to  God  ?^'  *' Oh,'' 
said  the  wounded  man,  '*  brother,  do  not  talk  to  me  about 
ray  soul.  I  have  thrown  away  all  my  health  and  vigorous 
days  and  despised  God  and  religion,  and  now  I  can  do 
nothing  with  every  fiber  of  my  body  burning  and  aching. 
Oh,  brother,  I  cannot  talk  with  you  now  about  religion.''  The 
next  day  the  brother  tried  his  best  to  approach  him  again, 
but  the  wounded  brother  waived  him  off,  and  said  :  *'  Broth- 
er, I  am  tortured  to  death  with  physical  pain.  Please,  sir, 
do  not  trouble  me  now.  I  am  unprepared  and  shall  die  un- 
prepared, but  do  not  torture  me  more  than  I  am  being  tor- 
tured."    He  could  not  approach  him. 

It  came  to  be  the  sixth  night  this  preacher  brother  had  sat 
by  his  brother's  bedside.  Loss  of  sleep  and  exhaustion  and 
anxiety  had  reduced  him  so  much  and  worried  him  so,  that 
as  the  wounded  brother  was  lying  quietly  that  night  about 
twelve  o'clock  he  said  to  himself,  "I  will  lie  down  on  the 
cot  and  rest  for  a  few  moments.    I  won't  go  to  sleep.     I  see 


242  Wages  of  JSui  vs.  The  Gift  of  God. 

brother  is  very  low/'     And  he  said,  '^I  laid  down  on  the  cot 
and  in  a  moment  was  sound  asleep. 

AN   AWFUL    DREAM. 

And  while  asleep  he  dreamt  that  his  brother  died  with  his 
mouth  wide  open,  and  just  as  soon  as  the  soul  left  the  body 
he  saw  the  devil  come  in  in  bodily  form  and  approach  the 
bed,  and  walk  up  to  his  dead  brotherand  look  down  into  his 
brother's  mouth;  and  he  saw  that  the  soul  was  gone.  And 
he  said:  ^'I  thought  that  when  the  soul  of  my  brother  left  his 
body  it  had  hid  among  the  piles  of  wood  I  had  piled  up  by 
the  flre  to  keep  the  tire  going,  and  that  the  devil  scented  the 
soul,  and  started  around  to  towards  it;  and  as  the  devil  ap- 
proached that  hiding-place  the  soul  flew  out  of  the  room  fol- 
lowed by  the  devil,  and  crying  ^  Lost !  Lost !  Lost !  Forever 
lost!'  And,"  said  he,  ''  in  the  distance  I  heard  the  wail  of 
my  brother's  soul  as  it  hurried  out  of  the  reach  of  the  devil; 
and  in  the  distance  I  could  hear  shrieks  and  screams  of  my 
brother's  soul  as  the  devil  fastened  his  talons  in  it  forever 
and  ever.  And,"  he  said,  "when  I  woke  up,  agitated  and 
frightened,  the  light  had  gone  out."  And  he  said,  "  I  jump- 
ed up  and  lit  the  lamp.  I  walked  up  to  the  bed.  There 
was  my  poor  brother,  lying  with  his  mouth  wide  open.  And 
I  believe  God  shut  my  eyes  in  sleep  to  show  me  the  scene 
that  transpired  in  that  room." 

THE  LAST    APPEAL. 

G-od  have  mercy  on  men  who  will  let  the  last  chance  of 
being  saved  pass  away  and  then  go  into  eternity  unprepar- 
ed. Will  5^ou  risk  it?  Will  you  risk  it  ?  How  many  men 
sitting  before  me,  or  anywhere  in  this  church  to-night,  who 
are  not  religious,  who  are  not  professors  of  religion, young 
men  who  are  not  religious,  fathers  who  are  not  religious, 
how  many  of  you  will  stand  up  before  God  and  man  and 
say,  "I  don't  want- to  do  without  religion  ;  I  want  to  be  a 
Christian  here  and  live  with  Christians  here  on  earth  and 
with  them  forever  hereafter?"  How  many  of  you  will  stand 
up  to-night  and  say,  ''  God  being  my  judge,  I  do  not  want  to 
die  a  sinner.  I  want  to  be  a  Christian ;  I  want  to  be  saved 
from  sin"?  Have  you  interest  enough  in  your  soul  to  stand 
up  and  say:  "  I  want  the  prayers  of  all  who  pray.  I  want 
to  be  saved  from  my  sins  ?"     Will  you  stand  up — every  per- 


Wages  of  Sin  vs.  The  Gift  of  God.  243 

son  who  wants  to  be  a  Christian  and  shun  the  death  that 
never,  never  dies — will  you  stand  up  ?  Do  not  be  ashamed  or 
afraid. 

[Quite  a  number  of  persons  rose  to  their  feet.] 
That  is  right.  God  sees  you,  and  I  tell  you  a  man  is  not 
far  from  the  kingdom  of  God  when  he  will  stand  up  and  say  : 
'*I  want  to  be  a  Christian.''  Oh,  my  Lord,  save  these  peo-' 
pie  to-night.  You  can  all  sit  down.  God  help  us  to-night  to. 
prepare  for  eternity.    We  have  no  more  time  to  lose. 


^ERJVION   XIV. 


What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own 
soul  ?  Or  what  will  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul  ? — Maek  10 ;  36  and  37. 

|T  is  strange,  brethren,  that  while  science  and  philosophy- 
have  been  busying  themselves  so  much  with  the  doctrines 
and  dogmas  of  Christianity — it  is  astonishing  that  they  have 
never  thought  about  how  much  good  they  would  do  this 
world  if  they  would  just  stop  all  that  and  begin  to  answer  a 
few  questions  of  the  JN'ew  Testament  Scriptures  to  the. 
world.  Oh,  what  a  vast  benefit  the  science  and  philosophy 
would  be  to  humanity  if  they  would  just  answer  this  ques- 
tion: 

What  will  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own 
soul  ?    Or,  what  will  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul? 

Did  you  ever  see  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  any  man  to 
answer  that  question  ?  Did  you  ever  see  a  philosopher  sit 
down  to  answer  that  other  question  ? 

How  shall  we  escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation  ? 

god's  quick  response. 

Now  if  you  notice  the  questions  propounded  by  men  to 
Christ  and  his  disciples  you  will  recollect  how  quickly  they 
Avcre  answered.  Once  a  trembling  jailer  ran  out  into  the 
presence  of  Paul  and  Silas,  and  he  said,  "Men  and  brethren, 
what  must  I  do  to  be  saved  V — the  most  important,  infinitely 
important  question  in  the  universe — and  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye  St.  Paul  spoke  it  out,  "Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved.''  You  know  when  the 
Scribes  and  cunning  Pharisees  and  shrewd  Sadducees  used 
to  approach  Christ  with  the  most  knotty  questions  in  the 
universe,  that  Jesus  never  said,  "Wait  till  I  come  around 
again,'^  or  "Let  me  consult  the  authorities,"  or  "Let  me 
consult  the  encyclopedia;"  but  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye 
244 


Laying  Up  Money.  245 

he  always  gave  the  answer  to  the  most  mighty  problems 

and  questions  in  the  universe. 

And  now,  while  God  answers  immediately,  I  say  to  you 

that  God  propounds  some  questions  to  us  that  have  been 

emblazoned  upon  the  pages  of  that  book  for  thousands  of 

years,  and  that  we  have  never  attempted  to  answer: 

What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own 
soul  ? 

There  are  two  things  involved  in  this  discussion.     One  is 
the  world;  the  other  is  the  soul. 

A   PRETTY   GOOD   WORLD,    AFTER   ALL. 

This  world  is  a  multitudinous  affair.  It  is  a  grand  old 
world.  There  isn't  a  want  of  any  physical  and  temporal 
nature  that  this  world  does  not  stand  with  outstretched, 
benevolent  hands,  and  says  to  me,  ^'Here's  what  you  want.'' 
If  I  want  water,  three-fourths  of  this  world's  surface  is  cov- 
ered with  water.  If  I  want  gold,  the  bowels  of  the  earth 
are  filled  with  gold.  If  I  want  books,  the  millions  of  shelves 
laden  all  around  me  bid  me  take  off  and  read.  If  I  want 
friends,  the  1,400,000,000  of  inhabitants  upon  the  earth  say, 
each  one  of  them, ''I  will  be  your  friend.''  If  I  want  bread, 
the  heavy-laden  harvest  fields  wave  back  to  me  a  smile  of 
plenty,  which  says,  ''Come  and  eat.  Don't  be  hungry."  If  I 
want  anything,  and  if  I  want  everything,  this  old  world 
stands  up,  with  outstretched,  generous  hands,  and  says, 
"  Here's  what  you  want."  I  have  no  patience  with  the  idea 
that  this  is  a  hard  old  world  and  that  it  is  a  bad  old  world. 
I  don't  like  to  have  Christian  people  going  about  singing 

This  world's  a  howling  wilderness, 
when  you're  the  dogs  that  are   doing   the   howling  right 
straight  along  on  that  line. 

No  howling  wilderness.  This  is  a  grand  world.  It  is  just 
such  a  world  as  a  benevolent,  gracious  father  would  give  his 
children  to  live  in  for  threescore  years  and  ten.  It  is  a 
glorious  world  with  all  of  its  health-giving  and  life  perpetu- 
ating properties.  This  earth  with  all  its  bountiful  stores  of 
remedies  and  life-giving  eatables  and  life  perpetuating  bless- 
ing is  a  grand  old  world.  There  may  he  larger  worlds  and 
grander  worlds  than  this,  but  this  is  a  grand  old  world, 
brethren.     What  is  it  you  want  to-day  as  a  man,  as  a  mortal 


246  JLaying  Up  Honey. 

man,  that  this  world  doesn't  stand  ready  to  supply  you? 
And  one  reason  why  I  know  God  has  prepared  a  grand  im- 
mortal home  for  me  is  the  fact  that  he  has  spread  out  such  a 
grand  world  all  around  me  for  me  to  live  in  just  for  a  few 
days.  If  this  is  the  tent  and  tahernacle,  what  must  be  the 
everlasting  halls  of  God? 

THREE  IMPORTANT  MATTERS. 

I  believe  it  was  Talmage  who  used  this  illustration.  He 
said  :  If  a  man  is  going  to  invest  in  or  loan  money  on  prop- 
erty, about  the  first  thing  that  man  will  do  will  be  to  look 
into  the  title.  After  he  has  looked  into  the  question  of  title, 
then  the  next  thing  will  be  the  question  of  insurance,  if  it  is 
improved  property.  Then  the  next  question  will  be,  How 
are  others  getting  along  who  have  made  the  investment?  I 
believe  he  said  these  are  about  the  three  questions  that  come 
up. 

Now,  suppose  I  go  out  as  a  merchant.  I  have  spent  my 
days  largely  in  merchandising.  I  have  accumulated  a  for- 
tune, and  now  I  want  to  retire  to  some  beautiful  country 
seat,  where  I  may  live  in  ease.  I  go  out  here  a  few  miles 
and  look  over  a  magnificent  farm,  with  its  mansions,  its  out- 
houses, its  creeks,  its  bottom  lands,  its  table  lands,  its  wood 
lands,  its  all.  It  just  suits  me  exactly.  But,  as  a  successful 
business  men,  I'm  not  going  to  count  down  one  dollar  for 
that  land  until  I  have  come  here  and  examined  the  book  of 
deeds  and  book  of  liens  and  book  of  mortgages,  and  see  if 
I  can  get  a  good  title  to  that  land. 

Well,  now,  brother,  when  I  look  around  this  old  world  I 
see  it  is  just  the  world  for  me,  and  about  the  first  thing  I'm 
going  to  look  into  is:  What  sort  of  title  can  I  get  to  it?  Do 
you  know  that  a  man  may  count  down  his  soul  for  this 
world,  and  in  fifteen  hours  after  he  has  made  the  trade,  death 
will  come  along  with  one  of  his  writs  of  ejectment,  and  say  : 
"Oft' these  premises!  Get  oft*  forever !"  And  the  poor  fel- 
low will  pull  out  his  deed,  but  death  is  blind  and  can't  see 
to  read  it,  and  the  poor  fellow  will  say:  "I  have  counted 
down  my  all  for  this  piece  of  property;"  but  death  can't 
hear  a  word  he  says  ! 

TABULATED    EXPERIENCE. 

Aud  how  many  men  in  my  own  knowledge  have  I  seen 


Laying  Up  Money.  247 

build  their  nice  houses,  and  prepare  for  comfort  and  ease, 
and  in  less  than  twelve  months  after  they  have  entered  their 
new  places,  here  is  death  coming  to  the  door,  and  knocking 
and  walking  in,  and  saying:  ^'  G-et  out  of  the  house  and  go 
to  the  cemetery/'  And  maybe  the  fellow  has  in  his  pay  every 
doctor  in  town  almost,  and  he  is  begging  the  doctors  for 
power  against  death  ;  but  death  says,  "You  needn't  send  for 
the  doctor.  You  needn't  throw  away  any  time.  When  I 
come  for  yon  I  mean  you  have  got  to  get  off  these  premises." 
In  my  own  town  I  can  call  to  mind  more  than  half  a  dozen 
different  men,  who,  in  middle  age,  had  just  built  and  fixed  up 
their  homes  elegantly,  and  in  less  than  twelve  months  from 
the  time  they  entered  their  elegant  homes  they  were  turned 
out  of  them  and  carried  to  the  graveyard.  And  I  know 
mansions  in  St.  Louis  that  have  had  the  black  crape  tied  on 
the  door-knob.  What  does  it  mean  ?  It  means — every  black 
crape  and  every  black  veil  in  this  world,  and  every  emblem 
of  mourning  means — "You  can't  get  any  title  to  anything 
down  here." 

"for  sally  and  the  children." 

Oh,  how  true  that  is  !  Now,  I  like  to  see  a  man  frugal  and 
industrious  and  economical,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing;  but, 
brethren,  frugality  and  industry  are  not  always  at  the  bot- 
tom of  our  desire  to  get  hold  of  this  world.  There's  many 
a  man  in  this  world  that  has  accumulated  and  accumulated 
and  accumulated,  and  you  walk  up  to  him  and  ask  him: 

"  Are  you  an  old  miser?" 

"No,"  he  says,  "I'm  no  miser." 

"  Well,  what  are  you  piling  it  up  this  way  for  ?" 

"Well,"  he  says,  "  I'll  tell  you.  I'm  laying  up  for  Sally 
and  the  children.  I'm  determined  that  Sally  and  my  child- 
ren shall  never  endure  the  hardships  I  have  undergone.  I'm 
laying  up  for  Sally  and  the  children." 

Yes,  and  if  he  could  just  see  Sally  and  the  children  about 
twelve  months  after  he  has  gone  to  the  graveyard — Sally 
with  her  new  teeth  and  the  children  in  their  fine  turnout — 
the  old  fellow  would  be  astonished  how  Sally  and  the  child- 
ren were  getting  along  without  him.     He  would  that. 

LAYING  UP  FOR  A  GOOD  WIFE. 

Laying  up  !  An  old  miser  I  Laying  up  everything  and  lay- 


248 


Laying  Up  Money, 


ing  np  everywhere  and  grasping  in  every  direction,  all  to 
lay  up  and  lay  away,  as  he  says,  *'for  Sally  and  the  child- 
ren." And,  my  brethren,  I  love  to  see  a  man  frugal,  and  I 
love  to  see  him  lay  up,  and  I  believe  it  is  every  man's  boun- 
den  duty  to  lay  up  for  a  good  wife  and  children ;    but  when 


^^  Sally  with  her  new  teeth  and  the  children  in  their  fine  turtiout.''* 
he  passes  to  the  point  where,  really,  down  in  his  heart,  he  is 
miserly,  and  is  not  caring  for  wife  and  children,  then  after 
he  is  dead  and  gone  his  money  will  curse  his  children,  and 
perhaps  curse  his  wife.  I  have  seen  that.  And  I  tell  you 
the  honest  truth  as  I  stand  here  and  look  upon  this  congre- 
gation to-night:  if  I  had  opportunity  in  this  life — I  don't 
know  that  I  ever  would — but  if  I  had  opportunity,  I  would 
lay  by  a  competency  for  my  wife  to  keep  her  from  want — . 
she  has  given  the  best  years  of  her  life  to  me  and  my  child- 
ren— I  would  lay  by  enough  to  make  my  wife  comfortable 
in  all  her  future  years,  but  I  wouldn't  lay  by  a  dollar  in  the 
world  for  one  of  my  children.  Do  joii  know  why?  Because 
— listen  !  if  my  children  are  any  account,  they  don't  need  it; 
and  if  they  are  no  account  every  dollar  I  give  them  will  sink 
them.     Don't  you  see  ? 

miser's  money. 
I  wish  men  would  begin  to  learn  that  fact.    An  old  miser, 


Laying  Up  Money.  249 

an  old  fellow,  died  in  one  of  the  Southern  cities,  and  after  he 
died,  a  preacher  told  me  he  went  there  and  staid  all  night, 
and  they  put  him  up  stairs,  and  he  walked  into  the  garret 
and  saw  a  picture  hanging  with  its  face  turned  toward  the 
wall.  He  turned  the  picture  round  and  it  was  the  old  man^s 
picture.  They  had  done  sent  it  off  up  stairs  and  turned  its 
face  to  the  wall !  And  that  old  man  just  spent  his  whole  life 
laying  up,  as  he  said,  '■'■  for  Sally  and  the  children  ;"  and 
look  how  they  treated  the  old  man  ! 

Law  me!  Look  how  Cornelius  Yanderbilt  was  smirched 
all  over  in  that  trial,  after  his  death,  by  his  own  legatees. 
Do  you  recollect  it?  Now,  if  a  true,  good,  noble  man,  has  laid 
up  for  his  wife,  and  laid  up  for  his  children,  in  harmony  with 
Grod,  I  say  all  right.  But  I  say  a  miser's  money  will  curse 
him  after  he  is  dead  and  gone,  and  curse  his  children,  and, 
perhaps,  his  wife,  when  he  is  dead  and  gone.  Some  of  the 
truest,  noblest  citizens  of  St.  Louis  have  laid  up  a  compe- 
tency for  their  families,  and  their  families  are^doing  well  to- 
day, and  that  is  the  proof  that  they  laid  it  by  right.  But, 
brother,  whenever  a  man  shall  ignore  God  and  the  rights  of 
others,  and  accumulate  money  in  every  direction,  and  then 
pile  it  up,  as  he  says,  simply  for  his  family,  that  money  will 
curse  his  family  after  he  is  dead  and  gone.  We  all  know  that 
is  true.  But  if  you  will  act  in  harmony  with  God  you  can  lay 
up  all  the  money  for  your  family  you  want  to,  and  it  will  be 
a  blessing  to  them  after  you  are  dead.  But  mind  how  you 
act  out  of  harmony  with  God  and  grasp  after  this  world  ! 

POOR  SINNERS. 

And  then  I'll  tell  you  another  thing.  It  ain't  only  the 
rich  that  run  after  this  world.  There's  many  a  poor  fellow 
running  after  this  world  in  this  life  and  never  gets  any  of 
it.  I'm  sorry  for  that  sort  of  fellow.  There's  many  a  fel- 
low out  here  on  a  farm  with  nothing  but  forty  acres  of  poor- 
land  and  an  old  stiflP-eared  mule;  stays  right  there  and  goes 
to  hell  for  love  of  the  world  and  love  of  money  !  Never  had 
the  money,  but  he  loves  it  immensely  and  he  loves  it  intense- 
ly. I  use  this  old  world  and  what  it  has  got  in  it  just  like  I 
would  use  a  walking-stick — to  help  me  along  to  where  I  am 
going,  and  that  is  the  only  use  I  have  got  for  it.  And  any- 
thing that  is  in  my  power  that  I  can  make  help  mo  upward 


250  Laying  Up  Money. 

as  a  stepping-stone  to  a  better  and  higher  life,  I  want  to  use. 

ROUGH  ON   MILLIONAIRES. 

This  old  world.  You  take  A.  T.  Stewart,  one  of  the  rich- 
est money  kings  in  America.  Justa  week  before  his  death  it 
would  have  taken  a  hundred  business  men  a  hundred  days  to 
have  told  how  much  A.  T.  Stewart  was  worth.  But  now  that 
he  is  dead,  I  want  to  find  out  how  much  he  is  worth  j  and  a  lit- 
tle fellow  walks  into  his  death  chamber  and  takes  a  little 
tape-line  out  of  his  pocket  and  measures  five  feet  ten  inches 
one  way,  and  eighteen  inches  the  other  way,  and  goes  out 
here  in  the  public  cemetery  and  puts  that  measure  on  the 
ground,  and  there's  the  sum  total  of  all  A.  T.  Stewart's  pos- 
sessions. Do  you  call  that  being  rich?  You  just  take  the 
money  princes  of  this  world,  that  spent  their  life  in  gather- 
ing money  and  ignoring  God,  and  I  declare  to  you  to-day 
there  are  not  enough  millionaires  in  hell  to-night,  if  the  whole 
concern  were  to  go  into  copartnership,  to  buy  a  drop  of 
water  to  cool  their  parched  tongues.  Do  you  call  that  being 
rich?  Do  you  call  that  acting  wisely  ?  You  say  that  it  is 
for  the  best,  do  you  ? 
As  using  and  not  abusing. 

That's  it;  and  I  reckon,  of  all  the  insufferable  conditions 
that  pandemonium  can  offer  to  an  immortal  soul,  as  the  poor 
fellow  walks  through  the  flames  of  damnation,  the  worst  is 
the  consciousness,  "lam  money  damned.  I  would  have  got  to 
heaven  if  it  hadn't  been  for  filthy  lucre.  The  devil  toled 
me  into  hell  with  nickels." 

A  POOR  rOLKS'  HEAVEN. 

That's  an  awful  state  of  things.  Well,  I  have  said  fre- 
quently that  if  there  is  any  sort  of  people  in  the  world  I 
want  to  see  get  to  heaven,  it  is  the  poor  white  folks  and  nig- 
gers. A  poor  fellow  don't  have  anything  in  this  world,  and 
then  to  lie  down  and  die  and  be  damned  forever  is  the  mo*.^ 
awful  thought  I  ever  had  in  my  life  !  These  fellows  riding 
round,  having  a  big  time,  and  ignoring  God,  and  drinking 
fine  champagne,  and  playing  cards  every  night,  and  going  to 
the  theater,  they  can  sort  of  afford  to  be  damned  ;  but  we 
poor  white  folks  can't.  But  a  man  in  hell  with  the  conscious- 
ness, ^'I  never  had  any  fun  up  yonder,  and  then  eternally 


Laying  Up  Money.  251 

burning  here" — it's  a  pretty  bad  joke  on  him,  it  seems  to  me. 
This   old  world,   how  deceptive   it  is?     And   when  you 
count  down  your  soul  for  this  world  you  cannot  get  a  shadow 
of  a  title  to  it;  and  a  wise  man  won't  do  that. 

THE  MATTER  OF  INSURANCE. 

Well,  then,  you  strike  that  question  of  insurance )  you 
take  a  piece  of  property  in  this  town  that  an  insurance  agent 
won't  put  a  policy  on  ;  how  much  could  you  get  for  it  on  the 
market?  There  is  not  a  man  in  the  town  that  would  buy  it. 
Well,  suppose  you  should  take  an  insurance  agent  up  to  your 
house,  and  as  you  walked  up  toward  the  front  gate  the  flames 
were  bursting  out  from  the  cellar  in  your  house,  and  the  in- 
surance agent  says:  '' Mister,  I  can't  insure  that  property; 
it  is  already  on  fire  down  in  the  basement.  Don't  you  see 
the  flames  bursting  out  ?"  JSTow,  when  you  are  going  to  get 
an  insurance  on  this  old  world,  the  geologists  tell  us  that  it  is 
already  on  fire  down  in  the  basement,  already  burning  down 
there,  and  the  chimneys  for  the  under  world  are  Ycsuvius 
and  ^tna.  You  see  those  burning  volcanoes  throwing  out 
molten  lava  year  after  year. 

BURNING   WORLDS. 

I  tell  you,  geology  tells  us  a  great  truth  when  she  tells  us 
that  this  world  is  on  fire  down  in  the  basement,  and,  God 
Almighty's  word  for  it,  she  is  going  to  burn  up. 

Astronomers  have  pointed  their  telescopes  here  and  yon- 
der, and  they  tell  us  that  within  the  last  few  years  thirteen 
worlds  have  disappeared.  At  first  they  looked  like  other 
worlds,  after  that  they  turned  a  deep  red,  showing  they  were 
on  fire,  and  then  they  put  on  an  ash  color,  showing  they 
were  burned  to  ashes,  and  then  they  disappeared,  showing 
the  very  ashes  were  scattered  abroad.  I  get  a  title  to  it?  I 
cannot  get  any  insurance  on  it,  and  it  is  likely  to  be  burned 
up  any  minute.  I  would  not  be  fool  enough  to  give  any 
money  for  a  thing  of  that  sort,  much  less  my  immortal  soul. 

INCONVENIENT   PROPERTY. 

How  about  this  being  out  in  the  trade?  There  is  another 
thing.  Did  you  ever  talk  with  a  fellow  after  he  made  a 
trade  ?  You  go  down  here  to  the  City  of  Atlanta.  On  Peach- 
tree  street  is  one  of  the  prettiest  lots  in  the  city.  It  has 
never  been  built  on,  and  you  say  to  the  real  estate  agent, 


252  Laying  Up  Money. 

^'Why  hasn't  somebody,  built  on  this  beautiful  lot?"  He 
will  simply  tell  you,  "Everybody  who  has  had  anything  to 
do  with  this  lot  has  had  trouble  about  it.  They  buy  a  law- 
suit when  they  buy  this  property.  ISTobody  wants  it."  I 
have  watched  this  old  world  prettj^  close,  and  every  man 
who  has  had  anything  to  do  with  this  old  world  has  got  into 
trouble  about  it. 

Did  you  ever  notice  that  the  most  miserable  man  in  the 
world  to-night  is  the  ricliest  man  in  the  world  ?  I  heard  a 
fellow  say  once — he  is  rich,  too — he  said:  "I  said  when  I 
was  young  that  all  I  wanted  was  $10,000;  but  when  I  got 
$10,000  I  wanted  $20,000  twice  as  bad  as  I  did  that  $10,000; 
and  when  I  got  $20,000  I  wanted  $40,000  four  times  as  bad 
as  I  wanted  the  $20,000  ;  and  when  I  got  $40,000  I  wanted 
$80,000  eight  times  worse  than  I  wanted  the  $40,000.  Oh," 
he  said,  "Jones,  there  is  no  use  in  talking,  it  is  just  like 
drinking  salt  water;  the  more  you  drink  of  it  the  more  you 
want  of  it,  and  the  less  room  you  have  to  hold  it" — and 
there's  a  good  deal  in  that,  too. 

GETTING    MONEY   AND    KEEPING   IT. 

Laying  up.  And  that's  the  reason  men  say,  "I  can't  be 
religious;  lam  busy  looking  after  the  world;  I  am  busy 
taking  care  of  life ;  lam  holding  on  to  what  I  have  got." 
Another  old  fellow  told  me — says  he,  "I've  spent  my  life 
now  up  to  middle  age  making  money,  and  I  don't  want  to 
make  another  cent;  but,  Jones,  I'll  tell  you  the  honest 
truth,  it  is  harder  to  keep  it  after  you  get  it,  than  it  was  to 
make  it  to  start  with." 

Its  a  pity  for  those  fellows  that  have  got  it  piled  up  and 
trying  to  hold  on  to  it,  and  everybody  in  the  country  want- 
ing some  of  it.  I'm  sorry  for  them.  Josh  Billings  says,  the 
old  miser  that  has  accumulated  his  millions,  and  who  then 
sits  down  with  his  millions  at  last  without  any  capacity  of 
enjoying  it,  reminds  him  of  a  fly  that  has  fallen  into  a  half- 
barrel  of  molasses.  There  j^ou've  got  the  picture  just  as 
complete  as  Josh  Billings  ever  drew  a  picture. 

SAM   JONES'    LEGACY. 

I  never  had  much  money — never  will,  I  reckon.  I  saw  in 
the  papers  some  time  ago  where  a  man  had  died  in  North 
Carolina  and  left  Sam  Jones  a  wonderful  legacy — and  all 


Laying  Up  Money.  253 

that  sort  of  thing.  I  was  at  home  at  the  time.  Several  of 
my  friends  run  up  with  the  paper  and  said  : 

"  Sam,  did  you  see  this  ?  '* 

'^Yes." 

*' What  ar9  you  going  to  do  about  it?" 

"I  ain't  going  to  do  anything/' 

*'  Well,  I'd  write  on  and  tell  him  where  I  am/' 

Said  I,  ''No,  sir.  I  am  getting  on  right  well  without  a 
legacy,  and  God  knows  what  I'd  do  if  I  had  one.  I  am  get- 
ting on  so  well  without  one  that  I  don't  want  to  fool  with 
one." 

Don't  you  see?  I  want  you  all  to  have  legacies  and  live 
in  fine  houses,  and  I  will  go  around  and  take  dinner  with 
you,  and  let  you  pay  the  taxes  and  servants,  and  I  will  enjoy 
the  thing.     That  is  a  good  idea,  isn't  it? 

BELIEVES   IN   AGRARIANISM. 

All  things  are  yours — God  said  that — all  things  are  yours, 
life  and  death,  and  Paul  and  Cephas,  and  everything  is 
yours.  I  believe  in  the  doctrine,  not  of  communism,  but  I 
believe  in  the  doctrine  of  agrarianism.  Everything  is  mine, 
thank  God.  I  say  I  have  never  had  much  money — I  reckon 
I  never  will — but  I  say  this  much:  I  have  had  money,  and 
I  have  seen  folks  that  did  have  money,  and  Ithink  some  here 
know  what  money  will  do;  and  I  say  a  man  is  a  fool,  an  im- 
mortal fool,  that  will  sink  his  soul  for  money. 

A  LOTTERY  TALE. 

Eight  along  on  this  point,  an  incident  occurred  in  a  little 
town  in  Alabama,  where  I  was  born,  before  the  war,  in  Bow- 
ery, a  little  town  off  from  the  railroad.  There  were  a  great 
many  wealthy  planters  that  lived  all  around  it,  and  there 
were  about  eight  or  ten  little  stores  there  and  one  doggery 
saloon  ;  and  that  was  just  about  the  time  the  lottery  tickets 
came  out  and  were  popular;  and  several  of  those  leading 
men  invested  in  lottery  tickets,  and  this  bar-keeper  invested 
in  one.  The  day  after  the  drawing — there  were  no  wires 
through  the  country  then — they  made  up  apian,  fixed  it  ele- 
gantly, and  it  was  all  arranged.  So,  the  morning  after  the 
drawing,  one  of  these  wealthy  farmers  drove  up  at  break- 
neck speed  to  the  bar-room,  jumped  out  of  his  buggy,  and 
ran  in  and  said  to  the  bar-keeper,  "I  will  give  you   $15,000 


254  Laying  Up  Money, 

for  your  ticket  in  the  lottery."  The  bar-keeper  said,  ''What 
did  I  get?  What  did  I  draw?''  ''It  makes  no  diiferenee,  I'll 
give  you  $15,000  for  your  ticket  in  the  lottery."  He  said 
he  would  not  take  it  unless  he  knew  what  he  drew. 

And  directly  another  drove  up  at  great  sj^ecd  and  jumped 
out  of  his  buggy  and  said  to  the  bar-keeper,  "I  will  give  you 
$25,000  for  3^our  ticket  in  the  lottery."  And  the  fellow  says, 
"What  did  I  draw  ?"  "Well,  I  don't  care  what  it  drew,  but 
I  will  give  3^ou  $25,000  for  your  ticket;"  but  the  bar-keeper 
would  not  take  the  money.  And  directly  here  was  another 
driving  up,  and  another  one,  and  they  just  came  on  and  on, 
until  they  ran  the  ticket  up  to  $85,000,  and  he  would  not  take 
it. 

THE    bar-keeper's    HOPES. 

And  they  all  came  out,  and  the  fellow  locked  his  back  door, 
and  locked  his  front  door,  and  put  off  for  home,  and  never 
came  back  any  more  that  day. 

And  next  morning  he  went  up  town  to  the  post  office, 
walked  in,  and  the  post  that  morning  brought  the  news  from 
the  lottery;  and  he  saw  what  the  news  was  and  that  he  had 
not  drawn  anything,  and  he  walked  right  back  through  that 
crowd,  and  as  he  passed  through  there  was  a  suppressed  tit- 
ter; and  hewalkedonastep  or  two,  then  turned  right  around 
and  walked  back  and  faced  them,  with  a  mingled  look  of  re- 
sentment and  sadness  and  disappointment  and  jojMn  his  face, 
and  said  :  "Gentlemen,  hear  me.  Before  God,  as  an  honest 
man,  I  tell  you  I  am  glad  I  didn't  get  a  cent." 

BETTER   POOR   THAN   RICH. 

Said  he:  "I  left  mygroceryyesterday  about  eleven  o'clock, 
just  as  certain  that  I  had  that  capital  prize — I  could  not  have 
been  more  certain  if  I  had  it  in  my  hand — and  I  went  home 
believing  I  had  it,  and  I  commenced  talking  with  my  wife,  and 
we  just  sat  there  all  day;  and  sat  there  all  night  long,  and 
never  slept  one  wink,  talking  about  what  we'd  do  with  that 
money ;  and,  as  God  is  my  judge,  the  most  miserable  time  I 
ever  spent  in  my  life  was  since  yesterday  morning.  lam 
glad,  before  God,  that  I  didn't  get  that  money.  I  was  rich 
yesterday  and  last  night,  just  as  rich  as  if  I  had  it  in  my 
hand,  and  I  am  poor  now.  I'd  rather  be  poor  a  thousand 
times  than  rich  once/' 


Laym(j   Up  Money. 


255 


Do  you  get  the  idea  ?  Now,  that  fellow  tried  that  once  and 
knew  what  he  was  talking  about. 

GIRLS  KEEPING  UP  WITH  THE  FASHION. 

What  is  this  world?  A  man  will  die  now  and  leave  his 
daughters  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  apiece,  and  another 
man  dies  next  door  and  leaves 
his  daughters  not  a  cent. 
Those  poor  girls  go  to  sewing 
hard  every  day  working  on  a 
machine,  and  those  rich  girls  go 
to  keeping  up  with  the  fashion. 
1^0  w,  watch  them  thi'ee  years 
from  that  time,  and  the  fashion- 
able girl  looks  sallow  and  pale 
and  bloodless  and  nearly  dead 
on  her  feet,  and  there  is  the 
red,  rosy,  healthy,  vigorous 
girl.  It  will  kill  a  girl  quicker 
having  to  keep  up  with  the 
fashion  than  if  she  sews  all  day 
for  a  living. 

What  do  you  want  it  for? 
How  many  in  this  world  are 
making  a  fatal  mistake  right 
at  that  point.  What  do  you 
want  with  it — to  curse  you,  to  curse  your  families? 


Keeping  Up  with  the  Fashion. 


UNFORTUNATE   BOYS. 

And  in  my  own  State  I  can  go  around  the  Horseshoe  Bend 
of  one  of  our  rivers,  in  the  finest  plantations  in  that  State, 
and  I  can  take  those  plantations  one  after  another — the  old 
people  died  during  the  war — and  I  am  saying  the  truth  to- 
night when  I  say  that  nine  out  often  of  their  boys  have  al- 
ready filled  drunkard's  graves  and  drunkard's  hells.  Twen- 
ty thousand  dollars,  a  hundred  thousand  dollars,  will  buy 
nine  boys  out  of  ten  a  through  ticket  to  hell,  and  they  will 
invest  in  it  the  first  thing  they  do  and  check  their  baggage 
right  through,  and  heaven  and  earth  cannot  stop  them.  Don't 
you  know  that  is  so  ? 

If  my  father,  instead  of  turning  to  me  in  his  dying  hour 
and  bidding  mo  meet  him  in  heaven^  had  spent  his  life  accu- 


256  Laying  Up  Money, 

mulating  money  and  turned  over  twenty-five  thousand  dol- 
lars to  me  when  he  died,  I'd  have  been  in  the  pit  this  mo- 
ment. 

God  bless  you,  brother.  Show  to  your  children  there  is 
something  better  than  money,  and  better  than  this  world,  and 
better  than  all  the  surroundings;  show  them  there  is  a  G-od 
and  an  eternity,  and  that  character  is  worth  more  than  gold. 

What  will  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world — 
If  you  get  it  all  and  lose  your  soul,  what  are  you  profited  ? 

A  COMPARISON  OP  RICHES. 

Well,  whoever  got  the  whole  world?  Whoever  got  one- 
millioneth  part  of  this  world  ?  Some  fellows  think  they  are 
rich  if  they  are  worth  a  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Well, 
what  is  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  compared  to  Yander- 
bilt's  fortune  ?  Or,  if  you  owned  Yanderbilt's  fortune,  what 
is  that  compared  to  the  City  of  New  York  ?  And  the  City 
of  New  York,  if  you  owned  it  all,  what  is  that  compared  to 
America  ?  And  if  you  owned  all  America,  what  is  that  com- 
pared with  the  whole  world?  And  if  you  owned  the  whole 
world  down  here,  I  expect  if  you  could  put  two  such  worlds 
as  this  in  your  pocket  and  go  to  the  Dog  Star  and  stay  all 
night,  that  you  wouldn't  have  enough  to  pay  your  hotel  bill 
in  the  morning.  And,  after  all,  what  is  there  in  this  world 
that  takes  away  so  much  of  our  time  and  so  much  of  our  tal- 
ent and  so  much  of  our  energy — and  how  foolish  it  is  ? 

WANTED    TO    STRAIGHTEN   OUT   HIS    BOYS. 

A  father  in  one  of  the  Southern  cities  said  to  me:  ''Oh  V* 
said  he,  "two  of  my  boys  are  dissipated,  and  my  money 
will  ruin  my  boys,  and  I  know  it." 

Said  I :  "  You  say  you've  got  money  enough  to  ruin  them 
both  ?" 

''Yes." 

"And  you  are  certain  it  will  ruin  them  V 

"  Yes." 

Said  I  :  "I'll tell  you  how  to  dodge  that  thing." 

"How." 

"Well,  give  me  this  afternoon  twenty  thousand  dollars 
apiece  of  those  two  boys'  money  for  the  orphan  home  out 
here,  and  you  go  home  to-night  and  say  to  Tom  and  Henry, 
'I  have  given  Sam  Jones  twenty  thousand  dollars  of  each  of 


Laying  Up  Money.  257 

your  portions,  and  the  very  next  time  you  get  drunk  I  am 
going  to  give  him  forty  thousand  dollars  more  ;  and  on  your 
third  drunk,  I  will  make  him  a  deed  for  that  orphans' homefor 
every  dollar  I  have  got.  And/'  said  I,  ''you  v^ill  straight- 
en those  boys  right  out/' 

And  before  my  money  should  damn  my  children,  I  say  to 
you  to-night,  I  would  give  it  all  to  the  orphan  homes  of  the 
country.  Well,  as  I  said,  I  toldliim  what  he  should  do  with  his 
money,  and — well,  strange  to  say,  he  never  gave  me  a  cent. 
I  am  afraid  he  will  be  in  the  pit  before  his  boy  is. 

LEFT  IT  TO  THE  BAR-KEEPERS. 

I  saw  in  the  paper  the  other  day  where  an  old  fellow — a 
man — said  to  another: 

''Did  you  hear  about  Mr.  So  and  So  being  dead?" 

*'Yes.'' 

"  He  is  a  millionaire,  and  he  willed  the  last  dollar  in  the 
world  he  had  to  the  bar-keepers." 

"He  did!" 

"Yes!  Well,"  he  said,  "he  didn't  will  it  directly  to  them 
but  he  just  willed  it  indirectly  to  them — he  just  gave  it  to 
his  boys,  and  the  bar-keepers  will  get  it  sure." 

This  world,  this  world,  this  world.  Oh,  brethren,  this 
world  with  all  that  it  has,  can  be  nothing  to  me  but  a  step- 
ping-stone to  a  higher  and  a  better  life. 

THE  MORAL  HEALTHINESS  OF  POVERTY. 

You  can  go  down  among  the  rich  bottoms  of  the  Missouri 
and  Mississippi  Elvers,  and  there  you  find  the  most  impure 
water,  and  the  most  malarious  atmosphere.  You  can  go  up 
among  the  old  red  hills  of  Georgia,  and  the  clearest,  spark- 
ling water  you  ever  saw  gurgles  up  through  the  old  red  clay, 
and  the  sweetest  atmosphere  blows  over  the  old  red  hills 
of  Georgia.  Among  the  rich  of  this  earth  is  the  most  cor- 
ruption, and  the  most  wickedness,  and  the  most  guilt. 
Among  the  poor  of  the  earth  you  will  find  the  sweetest  vir- 
tues and  the  noblestcharacters.  Letus  live  among  the  poor. 
Let  us  have  a  good  atmosphere  and  good  water. 

And  I  will  tell  you,  brother,  that  when  a  man  gets  drunk 
on  money  he  is  gone.  You  preachers  are  not  candid  with 
him.  You  do  not  tackle  him  as  you  should.  When  an  old 
fellow  gets  drunk  with  whisky,  his   friends  go  to  him  and 


258  Laying  Up  Money. 

say,  ^'Look  here,  old  fellow,  you  are  going  to  the  devil.  I 
wish  you  would  quit  and  keep  straight."  His  wife  pleads 
with  him.  The  minister  pleads  with  him.  Everybody 
pleads  with  him.  But  when  a  fellow  gets  drunk  with 
money,  bless  you,  his  wife  does  not  say  anything  about  it. 
She  enjoys  the  "  creetur'^  herself.  She  does  not  say,  "Hus- 
band, you  are  going  to  perdition."  The  preacher  does  not 
tackle  him ;  he  is  afraid  to.  There's  many  a  man  in  this 
towndrunk  with  money.  Have  you  brethren  been  up  to  tell 
him,  "You  are  drunk  with  money  and  the  devil  will  get 
you."  You  never  tackle  such.  You  just  say,  "I  want  the 
jpavor  of  these  rich  old  fellows,  because  I  know  if  I  bother 
them  they  will  get  mad  with  me,  and  neutralize  my  action 
and  neutralize  my  power,  and  I  cannot  do  anything."  And 
you  think,  "The  best  thing  to  do  is  to  let  the  old  fellow 
alone.  I  don't  want  to  antagonize  him,  but  just  make  him 
pay  his  way  along." 

THE   PRICE   OF   DAMNATION. 

Oh,  sir,  when  a  man  gets  drunk  on  money  nobody  bothers 
him  then.  He  just  goes  on  and  on,  and  to  perdition  he  goes 
forever. 

What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own 
soul. 

But  we'll  make  this  discussion  a  little  more  practical,  and 
bring  it  down  to  where  we  have  a  practical  interest  in  it  in 
every  sense.  I  want  to  say  to  you  right  now,  I  do  not  know 
what  it  is  that  keeps  you  from  being  a  Christian — you  men 
sitting  there.  I  cannot  tell  what  it  is  keeps  you  out  of  the 
Church  and  away  from  God  )  but  I  will  say  that  whatever  it 
is,  whether  it  is  a  dance  or  a  dram  or  licentiousness,  I  do 
not  care  what  it  is  that  keeps  you  away  from  Christ  and  out 
of  the  Church,  but  you  can  put  all  those  things  together  in 
one  common  pile,  and  point  to  the  pile  and  say:  "That  is 
the  price  I  put  on  my  immortality.  That  is  the  price  I  have 
sold  it  for." 

That  young  man  says:  "I  would  join  the  Church,  but  I 
love  to  dance."  That  young  lady  says,  "I  would  join  the 
Church,  but  I  love  to  dance."  Well,  young  lady,  go  on. 
We  will  say  that  you  go  to  two  hundred  balls — that  is  a  big 
allowance,  ain't  it? — and  that  you  dance  hundreds  of  sets. 
By-and-by  you  die  without  God  and  without  hope,  and  down 


Ijaying  Up  Money,  259 

into  the  flames  of  despair  you  go  forever;  and  as  you  walk 
the  sulphurous  streets  of  damnation,  you  can  tell  them;  "I 
am  in  hell  forever,  itis  true;  but  I  danced  four  hundred  times." 
Now,  wonH  that  be  a  consolation  ? 

That  man  out  there  says  :  "  I  want  to  join  the  Church,  but 
preachers  think  a  man  ought  not  to  take  a  dram  and  be  a 
member  of  the  Church."  Supposing,  brother,  that  you  roll 
out  forty  barrels  of  the  best  Eobinson  County  in  the  United 
States,  and  drink  it  every  drop,  and  then  die  and  go  to  per- 
dition. You  can  tell  them  in  hell  ,  ''I  am  in  hell  forever, 
it  is  true  ;  but  I  drank  forty  barrels  of  the  best  Eobinson 
County  before  I  got  here."  That  will  be  a  consolation, 
won't  it?     That's  remuneration,  isn't  it? 

don't  get  wives  from  ball-rooms. 

"What  do  you  want  to  dance  for,  young  lady?  What  use  is 
it  to  you?  If  I  had  to  marry  a  dozen  times — and  I  am  like  the 
Irishman  who  said  he  hoped  he  would  not  live  long  enough 
to  see  his  wife  married  again — if  I  had  to  marry  a  dozen  times 
I  would  never  go  to  a  ball-room  to  get  my  wife.  I  used  to 
dance  with  the  girls,  but  when  I  wanted  to  marry  I  did  not  go 
to  the  ball-room  to  get  my  wife.  Many  a  fellow  got  a  good  one 
in  the  ball-room,  and  many  a  fellow  didn't.  God  gives  a  man 
agood  wife,  and  somebody  else  gives  him  a  bad  one. 

What  good  does  it  do  you  to  be  able  to  dance  ?  Take  the 
best  girl  in  this  town,  after  her  family  is  reduced  to  a  fear- 
ful crisis  by  her  father's  business  reverses.  Now  they  are 
poor  and  that  girl  must  earn  a  living.  I  will  introduce  her 
to  a  dozen  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  town,  and  give  her 
a  worthy  recommendation  in  every  respect.  She  is  just  what 
everybody  would  want  as  a  music  teacher,  as  a  clerk,  or  in 
any  other  capacity;  but  I  will  add  as  a  postcript  to  the  re- 
commendation, ''She  is  a  first-class  dancer,"  and  that  will 
knock  her  out  of  every  job  she  applies  for  in  this  world. 
And  so  with  every  sin.  And  I  declare  to  you  to-night  that 
the  thing  that  keeps  us  away  from  God  and  outof  the  Church, 
that  is  the  price  we  put  on  our  soul. 

A  WISE   SALOON-KEEPER. 

There  is  a  man.  He  says  :  "I  would  be  religious  if  it  were 
not  for  so  and  so;"  and  I  never  think  of  this  that  I  do  not 
think  of  an  incident  in  which  a  husband  sat  by  his  wife  at 

J7 


260  Laying  Up  Money. 

a  revival  meeting.  When  the  penitents  were  asked  to  come 
to  the  altar,  he  was  asked  by  his  wife,  "Come,  won't  you  give 
yourself  to  God  V     He  shook  his  head  and  went  home. 

That  night  she  said  to  her  husband,  "I  saw  you  were  af- 
fected.    I  wish  you  had  given  your  heart  to  God." 

He  said:  "Wife,  I  cannot  be  a  Christian  in  the  business  I 
am  in." 

She  said  :    "I  know  that." 

He  was  a  liquor  dealer. 

And  she  added:  "  Husband,  I  want  you  to  give  up  your 
business  and  give  your  heart  to  God." 

He  said  :  "Wife,  I  cannot  afford  it." 

"Well,"  she  said,  "how  much  do  you  clear  every  year  on 
whisky?" 

"Well,"  he  said,  "my  net  profits  are  about  two  thousand 
dollars  a  year." 

She  asked  :  "Husband,  how  long  do  you  reckon  you  will 
live  to  run  that  business?" 

"Twenty  years,  in  the  natural  expectation  of  things." 

"How  much  is  twice  twenty  thousand  dollars?" 

"Forty  thousand  dollars." 

"Forty  thousand  dollars  !  Now,  husband,  if  you  could  get 
forty  thousand  dollars  in  a  lump  would  you  sell  your  soul 
to  hell  for  that  sum?" 

He  said:  "No,  wife!  no!  Til  close  out  my  business  in 
the  morning  and  I  will  give  my  heart  to  God  right  now.  I 
would  not  sell  my  soul  for  four  billion  dollars." 

AN   EARNEST   REDEMPTION. 

Oh,  that  you  all  could  see  what  keeps  you  out  of  the 
Church  and  from  God.  That  is  the  price  you  have  placed  on 
your  immortal  soul. 

Now,  a  word  in  conclusion.  The  soul — that  is  the  other 
thing.  There  is  the  world  and  here  is  the  soul.  Now  what? 
My  soul  with  its  immortal  interest;  my  soul  that  shall  live 
forever;  my  soul  that  will  shake  off  this  body  by-and-by, 
and  lay  it  aside  as  a  child  does  its  doll  after  it  has  done  play- 
ing with  it;  my  soul  that  shall  throw  this  body  down  and 
flyaway  from  it;  shall  I  give  my  immortal  soul  for  this 
world?  No,  sir,  I  cannot  do  that.  What  then?  I  will  give 
my  soul  to  Christ.     He  is  worthy  of  it;  he  died  to  save  it. 


laying  Up  3Ioney,  261 

Yonder  is  a  parliament.  Adam  has  just  fallen  and  subjected 
the  whole  race  to  death,  and  now  the  reverberating  thunders 
of  God's  wrath  are  heard  athwart  the  whole  moral  universe, 
and  the  announcement  is  made  in  that  parliament,  ^^Adam — 
Man  has  fallen.  The  great  federal  head  of  the  race  has  sin- 
ned and  fallen  ;''  and  a  voice  from  the  great  I  Am  spoke  out, 
*'Who  will  take  man's  redemption  on  his  shoulders  and  bring 
him  back  to  life?"  I  imagine  the  archangel  stands  up  in 
that  presence  and  shakes  his  snowy  Avings,  and  says:  ''This 
task  is  too  great  for  me."  I  imagine  Gabriel  might  stand 
up  and  say,  ''I  shall  blow  the  trumpet  that  will  wake  the 
dead,  but  this  task  is  too  great  forme."  But  all  at  once  there 
was  one  who  stood  up  in  that  presence  and  said  ;  ''I  will  take 
man's  redemption  on  my  shoulders."  And  the  angels  began 
to  wonder,  and  it  has  been  the  cause  of  increasing  wonder 
ever  since  that  he  should  become  the  Eedeemer;  that  he 
should  become  man  that  he  might  redeem  the  race  and  be  our 
Savior. 

SAVING  THE    SHIP. 

Brother,  you  saw  some  years  ago  that  a  ship  in  the  Atlan- 
tic Ocean  sprung  a  leak  away  down  in  the  bottom  of  her  hull. 
The  announcement  that  the  ship  has  sprung  a  leak  is  made 
by  the  captain,  and  the  pumps  are  got  to  work ;  but  they 
will  not  pump  out  the  water  as  fast  as  it  enters  by  the 
leak.  The  only  hope  for  the  safety  of  the  vessel  is  that  some 
one  will  give  his  life  in  order  to  stop  the  leak.  Yolunteers 
were  asked  for,  and  one  man  spoke  up,  *'I  will  go  down 
and  stop  the  leak."  He  went  down  and  down — to  the  up- 
per, then  to  the  lower,  and  then  to  the  third  deck — and  then 
he  reached  down  into  the  water  and  worked  there  until  per- 
fectly exhausted.  The  pumps  began  to  work,  and  by-and- 
by  the  old  ship  grew  lighter,  and  by-and-by  the  captain  said, 
''  The  leak  is  stopped,  but  let  us  go  down  and  see  about  our 
friend."  They  went  down  to  the  third  deck  and  saw  his  body 
floating  on  the  water.  They  brought  him  up  and  embalmed 
his  body,  and  when  land  was  reached  they  carried  it  ashore 
and  buried  it.  And  the  spot  was  marked  by  a  tombstone 
on  which  was  the  epitaph  : 

This  friend  gave  his  life  that  all  of  us  might  live. 

And  the  names  of  those  he  saved  were  all  engraved  be- 


262  Laying  Up  Money, 

low.     And  they  bless  the  memory  of  that  man  and  say  :  '^If 
he  had  not  died  we  should  have  been  lost/' 

A  RESCUED   WORLD. 

And  yonder  is  the  old  ship  Ilumanity,  and  now  the  waves 
of  Grod's  wrath  and  judgment  begin  to  pitch  and  toss  her  and 
drive  her  on  the  rocks,  and  she  is  about  to  go  down  forever, 
when  the  Son  of  God  sees  her,  and  I  see  him  come  from  the 
shining  shores  of  heaven  as  swift  as  the  morning  light,  and 
throw  his  arms  around  this  old  sinking  ship.  She  carries 
him  under  three  days  and  nights,  and  he  brings  her  to  the 
surface  on  the  third  morning;  and  then  God  grasps  the  sty- 
lus and  signs  the  magna  charta  of  man's  salvation,  and  then 
at  that  blessed  moment  it  is  written  : 

Whosoever  believeth  in  the  Son  of  God  shall  not  perish,  but  have  ever- 
lasting life. 

I  will  give  my  life  to  Christ;  he  gave  his  life  for  me,  and 

he  is  worthy  of  it. 

SOLD   ON   THE   RUN. 

Down  South  before  the  war  we  used  to  put  a  nigger  on  the 
block  and  sell  him  to  the  highest  bidder.  Sometimes  he 
would  run  away  and  we  could  not  get  him  on  the  block; 
but  we  would  sell  him  on  the  run.  ^'  How  much  for  him 
running  away?"  Well,brother,  when  God  Almighty  turned 
this  world  over  to  Jesus  Christ,  he  turned  it  over  on  the  run, 
running  away  from  God,  running  away  to  hell  and  death, 
and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  came  as  swift  as  the  morning 
light  and  overtook  this  old  world  in  her  waj^ward  flight, 
threw  his  arms  around  her,  and  said,  ''Stop,  stop,  let  us  go 
back  to  God.    Let  us  go  back." 

Oh,  Jesus  Christ  help  every  man  here  to  say:  "I  will  go 
back.  I  have  strayed  long  enough.  I  will  go  back  now." 
Will  you,  brother?  God  help  every  man  to  say,  "This  night 
I  have  taken  my  last  step  in  the  wrong  direction,  and  have 
turned  round."  That  is  just  what  God  wants  sinners  to  do — 
to  turn  round — to  turn  round.  Will  you  to-night  say,  "God 
being  my  helper,  I  will  stop.  I  will  turn  my  attention  to 
heavenly  things  and  eternal  things.  I  will  look  after  my 
soul,  if  I  starve  to  death."    Will  you  do  that  ? 


^EI^MON  XV. 

^LL    THIJMQg    "VyOf^KINQ    7oQETHf:F( 
Y0^    ^QOOD. 


And  we  know  that  all  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love 
God;  to  them  who  are  the  called  according  to  his  purpose. — Komans  8;  28. 

WE  can  say  there  is  but  one  single  exception  in  all  the 
universe  to  the  truth  of  this  utterance,  and  God  makes 
that  exception  all  through  his  book.  Everything  in  this 
universe  works  together  for  the  good  of  those  who  love 
God,  except  sin.  There  is  nothing  in  sin  or  of  sin,  or  about 
sin,  or  around  sin,  or  above  it  or  beneath  it,  or  connected 
with  it  in  any  way,  that  can  ever  work  to  anybody's  good. 
What  you  have  done  that  is  wrong,  what  you  ought  to  have 
done  that  jon  did  not  do,  God  can  never  make  work  to  your 
good.  If  you  have  staid  away  from  a  prayer-meeting,  God 
can  never  make  that  work  to  your  good.  If  you  have 
neglected  your  duty,  God  can  never  make  that  neglect  work 
for  your  good.  There  is  no  provision  of  grace  to  make  up 
for  anybody  what  they  have  lost  from  the  neglect  of  duty. 
All  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God. 
HARMONY    OF    SOUL. 

Now  recollect,  if  you  are  a  Christian  and  love  God,  every- 
thing you  cannot  help,  everything  you  would  have  warded 
off  if  you  could,  everything  you  would  have  conquered  if 
you  could,  everything  in  this  life  works  together  for  good, 
except  sin,  and  God  himself  cannot  make  sin  work  for  any- 
body's good,  because  sin  is  the  reversal,  the  throwing  out  of 
gear  of  the  machinery  of  our  nature.  When  we  begin  to  go 
wrong  we  reverse  the  machinery  of  our  nature  and  run  it 
backwards.  You  can  no  more  work  for  God  when  you  re- 
verse the  machinery  of  your  nature  than  you  can  make  your 
sewing-machine  sew  when  you  run  it  backwards.     One  is  as 


2C4  Alt  Things  Worhmg  Together  for  Good. 

impossible  as  the  other.  All  things  work  for  good  when 
you  are  running  in  harmony  with  God  and  in  a  line  with 
God;  for,  after  all,  religion  is  nothing  more  than  harmony 
with  God.  When  you  walk  up  to  your  piano,  and  touch  a 
key  in  that  elegant  instrument,  and  that  key  is  out  of  tune; 
then  it  is  out  of  harmony,  not  only  with  the  rest  of  the  keys 
of  the  piano,  but  with  everything  in  the  universe  that  is  in 
harmony.  But  when  the  piano-tuner  walks  up  to  that  piano 
and  opens  it,  and  takes  out  his  instruments  and  works  away 
at  that  particular  string  until  he  gets  it  ii^  harmony,  then 
that  key  is  in  harmony  with  everything  in  the  universe. 
And  religion  is  getting  in  harmony  with  God.  Then  every- 
thing moves  along  harmoniously,  adjusting  and  setting  the 
Ten  Commandments  to  music.  Is  it  not  so?  When  God 
bids  me  do  this  or  that,  he  touches  a  chord  in  my  nature  in 
sympathy  with  his  own  divine  heart,  and  then  we  are  in  har- 
mony with  all  God  wills  and  wishes;  and  he  will  make 
everything  in  this  universe  conduce  to  our  present  and 
eternal  happiness. 

And  we  know  that  all  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love 
God. 

THREE    CLASSES     OF   PEOPLE. 

There  is  the  text.  There  are  three  classes  of  people  here 
this  afternoon,  and  these  three  classes  represent  the  whole 
w^orld.  The  first  class  we  mention  are  those  that  know  they 
do  love  God.  Thank  God,  there  are  such  persons  on  the 
face  of  the  earth,  persons  who  know  they  do  love  God. 
There  is  another  class  here,  and  those  in  that  class  do 
not  love  God;  and  about  nine-tenths  of  us  make  up  the  third 
class,  persons  who  do  not  know  whether  they  love  God  or 
not.  Sometimes  they  think  they  love  him.  Sometimes  they 
think  they  do  not.  Nine-tenths  of  the  w^orld  are  made  up  of 
don't-know-what-to-thinks.  Oh,  how  numerous  they  are! 
But  what  is  the  use  of  going  on  in  that  way?  When  I  was  a 
ten-year-old  bo}^  if  you  asked  me,  '^  Do  you  love  your 
mother?''  I  should  reply: 

"Yes,  sir,  I  do." 

''Do  you  know  why?'' 

''Because  when  I  do  what  mother  tells  me  to  do  I  feel  good 
about  it,  and  when  I  do  something  mother  told  me  not  to 
dO;  I  feel  bad  about  it." 


All  Things  Working  Together  for  Good, .  265 

"  Well,  what  other  reason  ?  " 

"I  love  her,  and  I  love  to  hear  her  name  reverently  and 
kindly  used." 

"  Well,  what  other  reason  ? " 

"It  makes  me  feel  bad  to  have  any  one  speak  unkindly 
and  irreverently  of  my  mother/' 

THE   SAME   REASONS   FOR   LOVING    GOD. 

Now  you  ask  me,  ^'  Are  you  a  Christian  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"Do  you  loveG-od?" 

"  Yes." 

"  How  do  you  know  you  do  ?  " 

"Because  when  I  do  like  God  tells  me  I  feel  good  about 
it." 

"How  else  do  you  know  it?" 

"  Because  when  I  do  something  he  told  me  not  to  do,  I 
feel  bad  about  it." 

"How  else  do  you  know  it?" 

"It  does  me  good  to  hear  people  praise  G-od  and  speak 
reverently  of  him,  and  it  gives  me  a  horror  to  hear  any  one 
blaspheme  him." 

I  have  as  many  reasons  why  I  love  God  as  I  had  why  I 
loved  my  mother. 

LOVE  FOR  GOD  NOT  ALWAYS  EMOTIONAL. 

The  love  of  God  is  not  necessarily  an  emotional  feeling. 
I  hear  people  talk  a  heap  about  feeling  that  they  love  God. 
I  never  stop  to  see  whether  I  have  got  feelings  or  not.  I 
never  inquire  about  that.  Some  people  say  they  never  want 
to  do  anything  unless  they  feel  like  it.  I  have  seen  preach- 
ers that  are  always  gadding  about,  and  are  extremely  anx- 
ious that  all  the  members  of  their  congregation  shall  be 
visited.  Then  there  are  preachers  whose  minds  and  hearts 
are  in  their  church,  and  they  would  rather  be  whipped  than 
go  and  see  anybody.  This  brother  deserves  a  thousand 
times  more^credit  than  Brother  Gadabout.  The  Lord  knows 
I  feel  sorry  for  one  of  those  pitty-patty  brothers  who  are  al- 
ways drumming  all  over  their  congregation,  seeing  old  Sis- 
ter So-and-So,  you  know — always  gadding  about.  If  j^as- 
toralvisitingwouldhavesaved  this  town,  it  would  have  been 


266  All  Things    Working  Together  for  Oood. 

saved  long  ago.     God  never  said  that  people  should  be  saved 
by  pastoral  visiting.     Paul  said  : 

lam  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ ;  for  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation. 

And  I  have  a  great  deal  more  respect  for  the  brother  who 
would  rather  talk  and  preach,  than  I  have  for  the  brother 
who  would  rather  be  running  around  all  the  time.  I  tell  you 
how  I  feel  about  it.  I  do  not  care  whether  a  minister  ever 
puts  a  foot  in  my  house  all  the  year  round  or  not;  but  I  will 
say  one  thing:  When  my  wife  and  children  visit  my  pastor 
I  want  him  to  preach  enough  solid  truth  to  keep  them  going 
the  whole  week,  instead  of  running  and  gadding  about,  and 
getting  in  my  wife's  way,  and  keeping  things  disarranged 
all  the  week  looking  for  the  preacher. 

VISITING    THE    PREACHER. 

I  want  my  preacher  to  let  my  family  visit  him  at  the  house 
of  God.  I  never  saw  people  that  quarreled  about  the  pastor 
not  visiting  them  that  amounted  to  much  anyhow.  If3^ou 
treat  a  preacher  right,  and  give  him  a  good  square  meal 
every  time  he  calls,  he  ain't  got  any  more  sense  than  to  come 
back  again.  If  a  preacher  don't  come  to  see  you  it  is  your 
fault..  Ain't  that  so.  Brother  Lewis?  Christ  told  his  dis- 
ciples when  they  went  to  a  place  to  go  to  one  house  and  put 
up  there,  and  not  to  be  running  about  all  over  creation.  He 
knew  what  he  was  talking  about.  But  if  I  could  not  preach 
much  I  would  make  it  up  in  visiting.  What  I  lost  in  danc- 
ing I  would  make  up  in  turning  round.  You  quit  bothering 
your  preacher  about  coming  to  see  you,  and  help  him  in  his 
work  !  If  he  has  a  thousand  members  in  his  church,  you 
make  yourself  useful  and  help  him  look  after  the  other  nine 
hundred  and  ninety-nine.  I  used  to  have  some  members  of 
my  church  everlastingly  at  me  to  visit  them.  One  family 
bothered  me  more  than  any  of  the  others,  and  when  I  did 
Imake  a  call  I  made  it  a  jumping,  bouncing  class  meeting,  and 
they  never  bothered  me  anymore.  If  some  of  you  pastoi'S 
would  do  the  same  you  would  nT)t  be  bothered  as  much  as 
you  are. 

THE    TEST   rOR   LOVE    TO    GOD. 

Kow  I  branched  off  from  the  subject  I  was  discussing.  I 
say,  whether  we  feel  like  it  or  not,  let  us  say;  ''I  am  going 


Alt  Thmgs  Working  Together  for  Good.  267 

to  do  what  I  consider  is  right/^  I  am  not  inquiring  this  af- 
ternoon whether  there  is  an  emotional  feeling  towards  God 
in  my  heart.  What  has  Jesus  Christ  said  ?  ^'Hereby  ye 
know  that  ye  love  me  because  ye  feel  that  ye  do  so/'  No, 
he  never  said  that;  he  said  : 

Hereby  ye  may  know  that  ye  love  me  because  ye  keep  my  command- 
ments. 

God,  love  and  loyalty  are  synonymous  in  this  sense. 
Hereb}''  ye  may  know  that  ye  love  me  because  ye  keep  my  commandments. 

Loyalty  to  the  right — absolute  eschewing  of  the  wrong — 
is  proof  that  ye  love  God,  to  them  that  love  God — or  in  oth- 
er words,  this  text  might  read  this  way : 

All  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  keep  the  commandments 
of  God. 

WORKING   TOGETHER   FOR    '^GOOD." 

That  is  about  the  practical  meaning  of  the  text.  Well, 
now,  if  I  am  loyal  to  God  straight  out  through  and  through, 
then  the  promise  is 

All  things  shall  work  together  for  good. 

Well,  I   might  stop   here,  but  I  wonder  what  that  word 
^'good"  means.     Suppose  we  give  it  this  interpretation: 
All  things  shall  work  together  for  the  ric-nes  of  God's  people. 

Temporal  riches — temporal  prosperity.  Why,  if  it  had 
read  that  way  there  would  not  have  been  a  word  of  truth  in 
it,  because  frequently  God's  people  are  poor  people.  And 
yet  I  may  say  that  one  of  the  richest  men  of  ancient  times, 
Abraham,  was  one  of  the  best  men  the  world  ever  saw. 

A   millionaire's   EXPERIENCE. 

I  met  this  summer  a  millionaire  that  went  down  in  the 
fearful  financial  stringency  this  year,  and  he  was  a  good,  gen- 
erous, noble  man,  and  he  had  gone  down  and  surrendered 
everything,  even  his  house  and  lot.  When  I  was  talking  to 
him  I  said,  "Oh,  my  brother,  I  do  not  understand  how  it  is 
you  were  ruined.  You  were  very  liberal  with  your  money. 
You  have  built  churches  and  parsonages  and  given  to  the 
Church.  You  were  very  liberal.  How  is  it  you  went  down 
in  this  fearful  financial  wreck  V 

"Well,"  he  said,  "I  will  tell  you.  God  knows  I  tried  to  do 
my  duty  with  my  money.  I  gave  it  as  liberally  as  the  gush- 
ing of  a  river.     I  am  conscious  of  that.'' 


268  All  Tilings  Working  Together  for  Good. 

THE   LAST   CRUEL   LETTER. 

And  he  said  :  "After  the  last  dollar  was  swept  away,  I  got 
a  cruel  letter  from  a  creditor,  a  cruel  letter  which  almost 
broke  my  heart.  I  went  into  my  room  and  knelt  down  on 
my  knees  with  my  Bible  in  my  hand,  and  said  :  *  Oh,  my 
gracious  God,  I  am  ruined  financially,  and  my  friends  are 
pouncing  on  me  and  saying  the  bitterest  words!  Oh,  my 
God  !  I  will  never  get  up  off  my  knees  until  you  explain  this 
thing  to  me  I  do  not  understand.^  I  prayed  there  with  that 
Bible  in  my  hand,  and  when  I  opened  it  the  first  line  I  saw 
was  this : " 

How  hardly  shall  they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 

^'I  just  jumped  off  my  knees  and  clasped  my  hands  togeth- 
er and  said,  'Glory  be  to  God,  that  is  reason  enough.'  If  I 
am  poor,  I  am  going  to  do  my  duty.'' 

can't  stand  prosperity. 

How  hardly  shall  they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Then  most  people  cannot  stand  prosperity.  ISTow,  if  you 
are  going  to  be  rich  and  religious  both  at  the  same  time  and 
place,  all  right;  and  if  ever  you  get  to  heaven  you  will  wear 
a  bright  crown  there;  no  doubt  about  that.  But  I  will  say 
one  thing  to  you,  you  had  better  look  out  along  that  line. 
Some  folks  think  I  have  some  spite  against  rich  folks,  like 
all  poor  white  trash,  but  I  have  no  spite  against  anj'body. 
If  there  is  anybody  good  to  me  it  is  the  rich.  If  there  is  any- 
body kind  to  me  it  is  the  rich.  I  think  so  much  of  the  rich 
people  of  this  country  that  I  shall  not  let  the  devil  get  them 
if  I  can  help  it,  and  I  am  going  to  talk  to  them  when  I  feel 
like  it. 

How  hardly  shall  they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 

How  many  genuinely  scriptural  pious  rich  women  do  you 
know  in  town?  I  do  not  mean  how  many  belong  to  the 
Church.  I  know  the  Church  will  get  them  in,  and  it's  glad 
to  get  them,  religion  or  no  religion.  I  ain't  talking  about 
that.  How  many  genuinely  scriptural,  devoted,  pious  rich 
women  have  you  got  in  your  city  ?  How  many  pure,  noble, 
consecrated,  self-sacrificing,  pious  men,  who  are  million- 
aires, have  you  got  in  your  city?  Now,  I  never  said  there 
were  not  any.  I  never  said  how  many.  I  ask  you  how  many. 


Alt  Things  Working  Together  for  Good.  269 

THE    "  THIRTY  "    AT   ST.    JOE. 

"When  I  was  in  St.  Joseph  preaching  there  was  a  story  in 
the  morning  papers  to  the  following  effect: 
Jones  is  not  doing  much  with  the  Thirty. 

The  next  morning  I  would  see  : 
The  Thirty  were  pretty  well  represented  at  the  meeting. 

I  said  to  my  friends,  ''What  does  this  'thirty'  business 
mean  ?" 

"Oh,"  they  said,  "there  are  in  this  city  thirty  million- 
aires, thirty  men  of  the  world,  worth  over  $1,000,000." 

These  riches  were  against  them,  you  see. 

Some  of  those  men  I  found  to  be  true,  noble,  Christly  and 
generous,  but  those  who  were  not,  we  did  not  make  much 
impression  upon.  One  of  the  old  millionaires  who  professed 
religion  joined  the  church.     Afterwards  I  said  to  him  : 

"  Well,  my  brother,  you  have  disposed  of  your  soul,  you 
have  given  it  to  God,  but  you  have  a  heap  harder  job  left 
before  you — what  to  do  with  your  money.  You  had  better 
begin  to  unload  now.  Shell  out  now,  for  if  you  are  ever 
damned  it  will  be  by  your  money.     Mark  what  I  tell  you." 

If  I  had  one-tenth  of  the  money  some  members  of  the 
Church  have  in  this  town  and  I  did  not  do  any  better  with 
it  than  they  do,  the  devil  would  get  me  as  certain  as  my 
name  is  Sam  Jones.  And  if  you  have  got  as  much  sense  as  I 
have,  and  you  don't  get  up  from  where  you  are,  the  devil 
will  get  you,  too  ;  you  can  put  that  down. 

GOD    doesn't   promise   PROSPERITY. 

Prosperity.  God  never  said  :  "  Al  1  things  should  work  to- 
gether for  the  prosperity  of  God's  people."  They  could  not 
stand  it.  Some  folks  could  not  go  to  heaven  out  of  a  three- 
story  house.  That's  a  fact.  I  do  not  say  I  am  one  of  those 
who  could.  I  never  tried  it  and  never  will,  I  reckon.  Pros- 
perity— I  do  not  want  anything  to  come  between  me  and  my 
loyalty  to  God.     I  like  Agur's  prayer: 

Give  me  neither  poverty  nor  riches.  Give  me  not  poverty,  lest  I  be  poor 
and  steal ;  give  me  not  riches,  lest  I  be  full  and  deny  thee,  and  say,  "  Who  is 
the  Lord?" 

The  medium  is  the  best.  Let  me  have  "sufficient  unto 
the  day,"  with  the  blessed  assurance  that  I  shall  dwell  in  the 
land  and  shall  be  fed. 


270 


All  Things  Working  Together  for  Good, 


NEITHER   DID    HE    PROMISE   HEALTH. 

God  never  said  :    *'  All  things  shall  work  together  for  the 
health  of  G-od's  people." 

I  think  some  of  the  most  afflicted  people  I  ever  met  in  this 

life  have  been  the  best  people, 
and  I  think  sometimes  most 
of  us  would  get  along  better  if 
we  were  sick  more.  Take  an 
ordinary  Methodist  now,  a 
^^^  backslider,  and  strike  him 
down  with  a  six  weeks'  spell 
of  typhoid  fever,  and  you  can 
do  more  to  get  him  better 
spiritually  than  by  preaching 
five  hundred  thousand  ser- 
mons. Take  and  shake  a  sin- 
ner over  a  coffin  and  turn  him 
loose,  and  he  will  hit  the 
ground  running  every  time. 

David  said,  *^  It  was  good 
for  me  that  I  was  afflicted."  It 
is  a  mighty  hard  matter  to 
keep  a  big,  fat,  sleek  Meth- 
odist straight ;  but  get  us 
down  for  a  day  or  two  where  we  are  pretty  near  to  death 
and  eternity,  and  it  has  a  good  effect.     It  is  wholesome. 

THE   USES   OF   ADVERSITY. 

Just  as  was  said  of  Jenny  Lind  :  When  Goldschmidt  first 
heard  her  sing,  as  he  walked  out  of  the  opera  house  somebody 
said,  "  Groldschmidt,  how  did  you  like  her  singing?"  He 
said,  "  Well,  there  was  a  harshness  about  her  voice  that 
needs  toning  down.  If  I  could  marry  that  woman,  break  her 
heart  and  crush  her  feelings,  then  she  could  sing."  And  it 
is  said  that  afterwards,  when  he  did  marry  her,  and  broke' 
her  heart,  and  crushed  her  feelings,  Jenny  Lind  sang  with 
the  sweetest  voice  ever  listened  to,  so  sweet  that  the  angels 
of  God  would  almost  rush  to  the  parapets  of  heaven  to  catch 
the  streams  of  the  sweetest  voice  earth  ever  possessed. 

SHOULD  SEEK  SALVATION  AT  ANY  COST. 

Sometimes  violets  send  forth  their  sweetest  odors  when 


The  Only  Way  Some  People  can 
he  Convicted. 


All  Things  Working  Together  for  Good.  271 

crushed  beneath  the  foot.  Some  of  the  most  religious  people 
have  been  the  most  deeply  afflicted;  and  if  there  is  one  prayer 
I  have  prayed  from  the  depths  of  my  heart,  it  is  ;  "  Lord,  if 
I  am  to  save  my  soul  at  any  cost;  if  that  is  necessary,  let  me 
begin  now  and  suifertill  I  draw  my  last  breath,  rather  than 
to  be  joyous  and  healthy  in  this  life,  and  then  enter  into  the 
other  world  and  into  a  life  of  interminable  suffering.  Lord, 
whatever  is  necessary  to  save  my  soul,  let  it  come  on  me. 
Save  my  soul,  good  Lord,  at  any  cost  to  me.^^  That  is  the 
way  we  ought  to  pray. 

God  never  said  all  things  should  work  together  for  the 
health  of  Grod's  people.  He  never  said  that.  I  used  to  think, 
when  I  first  became  religious,  that  if  I  got  sick  or  my  wife 
got  sick,  "That's  a  sign  God  don't  love  me."  But  now  I 
know  that  God  loves  me  with  all  his  great  heart. 

NEITHER    DOES    GOD    PROMISE    HONOR. 

Then  he  did  not  say  : 
All  things  shall  work  together  for  the  honor  of  God's  people — for  the 
popularity  of  God's  people. 

I  tell  you,  sometimes,  if  you  do  your  whole  duty  you  will 
be  very  unpopular.  Did  you  ever  notice  that  if  you  want 
to  be  popular  in  society  you  must  not  be  much  of  a  Chris- 
tian ?  You  must,  of  course,  belong  to  the  Church,  and  you 
must  agree  with  everybody.  Don't  disagree  with  anything. 
If  you  visit  the  house  of  a  friend,  and  they  have  cards,  don't 
say  a  word  against  them,  but  say,  "Some  people  object  to 
them,  but  I  don't  see  any  harm  in  them."  Oh!  how  much 
of  that  sort  of  nonsense  there  is  in  the  Church.  And  if  they 
have  dancing,  tell  them,  "Our  preachers  don't  like  it;  but  to 
save  my  soul  I  have  never  seen  any  harm  in  it."  And  if  they 
want  to  go  to  the  theater,  tell  them,  "Yes,  you  were  a  young 
girl  once  yourself,  and  you  used  to  go  to  the  theater." 

UNPOPULAR    CHRISTIANS. 

It  is  not  said,  "All  things  shall  work  together  for  the  hon- 
or and  popularity  of  God's  people."  No,  sir,  when  the  dis- 
ciples preached  the  truth,  but  one  of  them  died  a  natural 
death,  it  is  said.  Those  that  loved  to  preach  the  truth  rot- 
ted to  death  in  dungeons  and  were  burned  at  the  stake  or 
stoned.    It  is  not  a  very  popular  thing  to  be  an  earnest,  zeal- 


272  All  Things  Working  Together  for  Good. 

ous  Christian.  It  is  not.  God  never  said,  "All  things 
are  working  together  for  the  j)opularity  of  God's  peo- 
ple." 

You  take  a  popular  preacher,  a  preacher  whom  everybody 
likes,  whom  the  gamblers  like,  the  liars  like,  the  drunkards 
like;  and  I  say  that  whenever  liars  and  gamblers  and  hypo- 
crites and  backslidden  members  like  me,  I'll  tell  the  Lord: 
"I  am  wrong.  I  know  I  am.  There  is  something  wrong 
about  this  thing." 

ANOTHER   LITTLE   THING. 

I  have  noticed  another  thing.  You  recollect  the  Pharisees 
and  Sadducees  had  no  use  for  one  another.  They  hated  each 
other;  but  when  Christ  came  along  they  clubbed  together 
and  piled  in  on  him.  Here  is  a  backsliding  Baptist  sister, 
and  there  is  a  backsliding  Methodist  sister.  They  have  no 
use  for  each  other  under  ordinary  circumstances,  but  when 
a  preacher  comes  along  and  knocks  the  bark  off  of  them, 
they  join  against  him,  and  it  is  astonishing  how  thicK  they 
get.  They  meet  at  the  theater  or  at  the  card  table,  and  there 
are  a  great  many  places  and  a  great  many  points  on  which 
they  agree,  and  wherever  they  meet  they  join  in  the  fight 
against  this  one  or  that  one. 

Now  I  believe  in  voting.  This  country  is  running  a  good 
deal  on  voting,  and  so  on,  and  I  want  every  lady  in  this 
house  that  enjoys  religion,  and  has  got  cares  at  home,  who 
goes  to  the  theater,  who  shines  at  sociable  parties  and  dances 
— just  square  dances:  she  has  not  cut  the  corners  off  the 
thing  yet — I  want  every  lady  here  that  really  enjoys  relig- 
ion, and  goes  to  these  places  and  plays  cards  and  dances,  to 
stand  up.  I  want  to  see  you.  Stand  up,  every  one  of  5^ou ! 
If  I  were  one,  I  would  stand  up  and  be  laughed  at  and  say: 
<'IIere  is  one." 

[No  one  responded  to  the  invitation.] 

don't  enjoy  religion. 
But  I  will  tell  3^ou  what  they  will  say  now.  They  will  say: 
'*I  don't  enjoy  religion.  I  will  admit  that.  I  have  got  re- 
ligion, but  I  don't  enjoy  it."  Now  listen  to  me:  There  is 
but  one  reason  why  nobody  enjoys  religion,  and  that  is  be- 
cause they  have  not  got  any  to  enjoy.  It  is  the  most  enjoy- 
able thing  a  fellow  ever  struck,  and  the  question  would  be 


All  Things  Working  Together  for  Good^  273 

with  me,  How  can  I  keep  from  enjoying  it?     Got  religion 
but  don't  enjoy  it! 

The  popularity  of  God's  people.  He  never  said  that  "  all 
things  should  work  together  for  the  worldly  honors  of  God's 
people."  He  never  said  that.  I  am  glad  the  Lord's  peo- 
ple don't  take  many  honors  in  this  world,  the  way  it  goes 
now.  I  am  glad  they  don't  take  any  good  Christian  and  run 
him  for  President,  the  way  they  run  them  now.  I  am  glad 
of  that.  I  tell  you,  if  a  man  was  all  right  and  they  ran 
him  for  President,  wouldn't  they  smirch  him.  Take  Blaine 
and  Cleveland.  Ten  years  of  close  application  of  warm  wa- 
ter and  soft  soap  wotild  not  wash  off  the  smirching  and  vitu- 
peration that  was  thrown  on  those  two  men  in  their  last 
race.  If  what  was  said  against  those  two  men  was  true, 
they  ought  both  to  be  in  the  chain  gang.  I  am  glad  the  Lord's 
people  are  not  obliged  to  have  things  in  that  way.  I  don't 
want  to  be  President  if  they  put  more  mud  on  me  before  I 
get  there  than  lean  wash  off  while  I  am  there. 

WHAT   IS    THE    "  GOOD  ?" 

Worldly  honors  !  They  are  not  for  God's  people.  What 
does  this  mean  ? 

All  things  work  for  good. 

What  is  this  ^^  good  ?"  It  ain't  health.  It  ain't  happiness. 
It  ain't  prosperity.  It  ain't  worldly  honors.  What  is  it  the 
Lord  means  here?  IN'ew,  let  us  come  to  the  true  meaning 
of  the  text  for  a  moment. 

All  things  work  together  for  the  salvation  of  them  that  love  God. 

Salvation  is  the  greatest  good  this  earth  ever  heard  of  or 
could  experience.  Now,  I  can  see  into  the  text  and  see  into 
a  thousand  things.  ^' All  things  work  together  for  the  sal- 
vation," for  the  persistent,  eternal  salvation  of  them  that 
love  God.  A  heap  of  strange  things  happen  in  this  world, 
sister.  You  say,  "  Well,  I  cannot  see  to  save  my  life  how  the 
loss  of  my  husband  could  work  for  my  good."  *^  I  cannot 
see  how  the  loss  of  my  sweet  child  can  work  for  my  good." 
"Icannotsee  how  the  loss  of  every  dollar  of  our  property 
can  work  for  my  good."  Oh,  how  strange  things  have  hap- 
pened !  Well,  now,  you  see  that  clock  on  the  mantel,  at 
home.  You  walk  up  and  look  at  that  clock.  I  take  it  down 
and  look  at  the  dial,  and  look  at  the  works,  which  must  be 


274  All  Things  Working  Together  for  Good. 

put  together  by  a  olockmaker.  I  took  my  clock  to  pieces 
once,  and  after  I  had  put  it  together  again  I  had  sufficient 
wheels  left  to  make  another  clock.  I  could  not  get  it  to- 
gether. It  had  been  made  by  a  clockmaker,  and  only  a 
clockmaker  could  put  the  wheels  in  their  proper  places  again. 

A   DIVINE    INTENT. 

When  I  look  at  the  works  of  a  clock  I  say,  ''Well,  well, 
all  those  wheels  cannot  be  necessary.  There  is  one  big 
wheel  turning  slowly  and  another  one  fast.  There  is  a  great 
big  one  turning  backward  and  a  little  one  forward.  I  say  a 
clock  like  that  cannot  keep  time.  I  put  the  dial  back  and 
the  clock  ticks  on  and  strikes  the  hours,  and  I  say,  "  It  does 
keep  time.  I  do  not  care  how  it  looks.''  Now  God  sets  up 
in  heaven  the  largest  clock  of  all,  and  we  cannot  see  the 
machinery.  Here  is  health  and  peace  in  my  family.  Well, 
that  is  a  little  wheel  moving  forward.  The  last  dollar  of 
my  property  is  swept  away.  Well,  that's  a  big  w^heel  turn- 
ing backward;  but  all  things  work  for  you,  and  work  har- 
moniously in  one  direction  for  your  present  good  and 
eternal  salvation. 

When  I  was  at  Columbus,  Ga.,  I  walked  through  an  im- 
mense cotton  factory.  I  was  shown  all  the  machinery,  that 
which  cut  the  hoops  to  go  around  the  raw  cotton,  and  that 
which  picked  the  cotton  ;  and  I  followed  one  machine  after 
another,  from  one  floor  to  another.  I  watched  some  machin- 
ery carding  cotton,  others  pulling  it  on  to  reels.  At  times  I 
would  say  :  "  Look  here,  surely  this  is  not  the  way  to  make 
cloth.  If  I  did  not  want  to  make  cloth,  I  would  do  just  like 
you  are  doing."  But  when  we  got  to  the  last  machine  on 
the  fourth  floor  there  was  a  pile  of  cotton  cloth  bundled  up 
ready  for  market.  I  looked  down  the  line  of  machines  and 
said,  every  machine  in  this  factory  works  together  for  cloth  ; 
and,  sister,  by-and-by,  when  you  step  into  the  heavenly 
gates,  you  will  look  back  and  say,  "Everything  in  my  life 
worked  for  good."     Oh,  how  true  these  things  are  ! 

MORE   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

My  father  used  to  say:  "My  son,  if  you  do  that  I  will  cor- 
rect you."  When  I  got  ofl"  by  myself  I  said  :  "  Papa  is  so 
cruel  to  me.  Sometimes  he  whips  me  for  doing  some  things, 
and  if  ever  I  get  grown  up  I  am  going  to  ask  papa  what 


All  Things   Working  Together  for  Good,  275 

made  him  do  that."     But  I  was  not  eighteen  when  I  found 
that  my  father  had  corrected  me  for  things  that  would  have 
ruined  me  if  I  had  been  let  alone.     And  when  you  get  to 
heaven  you  will  say :  '^God  brought  me  to  salvation  the  only 
way  he  could  have  brought  me  safely  this  far." 
All  things  work  together  for  good. 
A  man  once  gave  me  this  illustration  of  the  text.     He  said! 
he  was  sitting  out  under  a  tree  in  a  garden  eating  a  biscuit, 
when  he  saw  a  little  ant  climbing  upon   the    seat.        He" 
watched  it,  and  said  :  ''I  reckon  this  little  ant  is  in  search  of 
food."     He  had  dropped  a  crumb,  but  the  little  ant  was  go- 
ing in  the  opposite  direction  to  it.     He  put  his  finger  in  the 
way  of  the  ant  to  direct  it  to 
the    crumb,    and    the    little 
thing  seemed  to  lose  patience 
and   want    to    quarrel   with 
him,  and  it   seemed  to   say: 
"Why  do  you  stop  me  ?  I  am 
hunting  food  for  my  young." 
The  ant  started  off  in  another 
direction,  and  he  dropped  his 
finger  again  in  front  of  the 
little    ant,   which  seemed  to      TheFinger,theAnt,  andtheCi^ml. 

be  madder  than  before,  and  it  seemed  to  say:.  "Oh, 
you  great, intelligent  creature,  why  do  you  stop  me?  I  am 
hunting  food  for  my  young."  He  said  ho  dropped  his  finger 
in  front  of  the  ant  until  he  directed  it  to  the  crumb,  and  when 
it  picked  the  crumb  up  it  seemed  to  say,  "I  am  so  glad  you 
put  me  in  the  way  of  finding  this.  Here  is  more  food  than 
I  could  have  found  in  a  month  if  you  had  left  me  alone." 

THE   FOLLY   OF   QUARRELING   WITH    GOD. 

In  this  world  when  we  are  moving  in  the  wrong  direction, 
down  comes  the  providential  finger  of  God,  and  you  say,  "I 
know  I  have  the  worst  luck  of  anybody."  And  we  stand 
and  quarrel  with  God  and  ourselves.  Wo  start  out  in  an- 
other direction,  and  just  about  the  time  we  think  we  are 
about  to  succeed,  down  comes  God's  providential  finger,  and 
we  say,  "Just  look  at  that."  In  this  way  God  drives  us  right 
to  the  gate  of  heaven,  and  when  we  walk  in  there  we  say: 
"Glory  be  to  God.    If  we  had  been  left  alone  we  would  have 

18 


276  All  Things  Working  Together  for  Good, 

s:one  to  perdition,  but  he  has  driven  us  right  to  the  joys  of 
fcvei lasting  life." 

THE   MATTER   OP   PROVIDENCE. 

Providence  means  going  before.  Providence.  I  believe 
in  Providence  as  strongly  as  I  believe  in  anything.  Here  is 
a  wagon  train  moving  westward.  A  horseman  lopes  ahead, 
picks  out  the  camping-place,  buys  the  provender  for  the 
stock  and  arranges  everything.  That  man  was  the  provi- 
dence of  the  wagon  train.  Providence  to  go  on  ahead,  to 
arrange  and  plan  everything.  Now  let  us  trust  in  God's 
providence  from  this  time  and  say,  ''I  will  go  along  and  trust 
in  God  that  everything  will  work  together  for  good. 

Though  he  fall  he  shall  not  be  utterly  cast  down,  for  the  Lord  upholdeth 
him  with  his  hand. 

I  hold  a  baby's  hand  as  it  walks.  It's  foot  strikes  some- 
thing and  it  falls  with  a  force  that  would  crush  its  face.  But 
I  hold  u])  the  baby  by  the  hand  and  I  say,  "Baby,  I  am  so 
glad  you  had  my  hand.  If  you  had  not  held  it  you  would 
have  ruined  your  little  face  on  the  rocks.  I  have  sometimes 
gone  along  and  fallen,  and  I  have  thought  I  was  gone  forever, 
but  the  Lord  had  my  hand  and  held  me  up,  and  I  say,  "Bless 
the  Lord !  If  he  had  not  held  my  hand  I  should  have  fallen 
down  into  eternal  despair." 

THE   lord's   sustaining   HAND. 

One  day  my  two  little  boys  ran  ahead  of  me  on  the  side- 
walk. Directly  I  noticed  they  were  back  again  holding  by 
my  fingers.  Well,  I  thought,  "What  does  this  mean?"  I 
looked  ahead  and  saw  a  few  steps  in  advance  a  lot  of  cattle 
on  the  sidewalk.  Just  as  they  saw  the  cattle  they  ran  back 
and  got  hold  of  my  fingers  and  continued  to  laugh  and  pla}^ 
as  much  as  to  say:  "We  were  afraid  when  we  saw  those  cat- 
tle alone,  but  now  we  would  laugh  and  play  if  all  the  cattle 
in  the  world  were  here,  for  we  are  with  father."  Let  me  say 
to  you,  if  you  have  got  hold  of  God's  hand  you  are  safe. 
When  dangers  and  disappointments  beset  you,  you  laugh  and 
rejoice.    Lord,  help  and  bless  us,  and  save  us. 


^EI^MON  XVI. 


Aud  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  heareth  say, 
Come.  And  let  him  that  is  athirst  come.  And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take 
the  water  of  life  freely. — Kevelations  22;  17. 

Tou  see  I  get  this  text  from  the  last  page  of  this  blessed 
book.  This  is  God's  last  message  to  man.  And  for  fear 
that  something  might  be  added  to,  or  that  something  might 
be  taken  from,  the  Scripture,  God  puts  in  this  fearful  admo- 
nition.    He  says: 

For  I  testify  unto  every  man  that  heareth  the  words  of  the  prophecy  of 
this  book,  If  any  man  shall  add  unto  these  things  God  shall  add  unto  him  the 
plagues  that  are  written  in  this  book. 

And  if  any  man  shall  take  away  from  the  words  of  the  book  of  this 
prophecy  God  shall  take  away  his  part  out  of  the  book  of  life,  and  out  of  the 
lioly  city,  and  from  the  things  that  are  written  in  this  book. 

I  am  glad  that  God  winds  up  his  revelation  to  man  with 
this  gracious  verse: 

And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say.  Come.  And  let  him  that  heareth  say, 
Come.  And  let  him  that  is  athirst,  come.  And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the 
water  of  life  freely. 

god's  latest  word  to  man. 
If  I  have  been  corresponding  with  a  friend  on  any  given 
subject  and  he  has  written  me  a  dozen  or  a  hundred  letters 
upon  that  subject — if  I  want  to  find  his  mind  now  concerning 
that,  I  will  turn  to  the  last  letter  received  from  him,  the  one 
bearing  the  most  recent  date.  And  now,  if  I  would  know 
God's  will  concerning  the  race  of  man,  I  won't  run  back  over 
Genesis  or  Deuteronomy  or  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah,  or  the 
Epistle  to  the  Eomans  by  St.  Paul.  When  I  want  to  find 
out  what  were  the  concluding  words,  the  last  message  of  God 
to  man,  I  run  through  the  book  and  I  see  God's  last  mes- 
sage, and  I  see  the  fearful  warning  added  :  "  Don't  any  man 
take  away  from  these  words.  If  ho  does,  I  will  take  away 
his  part  out  of  the  book  of  life.  And  if  any  man  shall  add 
277 


278  Whosoever  Will 

anything  to  this  book  which  will  make  it  so  these  are  no^ 
my  last  words,  then  I  will  add  unto  him  the  plagues  that  are 
written  in  the  book."  And  after  all  the  fearful  warnings 
and  judgments  and  denunciations  of  the  Scripture,  thanks 
be  to  God,  this  is  his  last  message  to  man. 

And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come.    And  let  him  that  heareth  say, 
Come.    And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freeh\ 

SOME    GRAND   DAYS. 

It  was  a  grand  day  in  the  world's  history  when  the  evening 
and  the  morning  were  the  seventh  da}^,  and  the  Son  of  God 
and  angels  shouted  over  a  finished  world.  It  was  a  grand 
day  in  the  world's  history  when  Adam  and  Eve,  the  first 
pair,  stood  before  God,  with  their  reason  clear  and  perfect, 
unruffled  by  passion,  unclouded  by  prejudice,  and  unimpair- 
ed by  disease.  It  was  a  grand  conception  to  them  as  they 
looked  out  over  a  finished  world  and  said  that  the  flowers 
were  God's  thought  in  bloom;  that  the  rivers  were  God's 
thought  imbedded;  that  the  mountains  were  God's  thought 
piled  up,  and  that  the  dewdrops  were  his  thoughts  in  pearl 
as  they  mingled  in  loving  tenderness  and  joined  together  on 
the  leaf  of  the  rose.  And  whenever  man  looked  about  him, 
all  nature,  in  its  beauty  and  freshness,  whispered  back, 
''  The  hand  that  made  us  is  divine."  It  was  a  grand  day  in 
the  world's  history  when  it  was  announced  through  the 
moral  universe  of  God  that  man  had  violated  the  law  of  God, 
and  had  brought  misery  and  woe  upon  himself  and  upon  his 
progeny  forever.  It  was  a  grand  day  in  the  world's  history 
when  God  met  the  fallen  and  degenerate  pair,  and  said  to 
Eve:  *' The  seed  of  the  woman  shall  bruise  the  serpent's 
head."  It  was  a  grand  day  in  the  world's  history  when  the 
last  strong  swimm.ersank  beneath  the  flood  and  left  Noah 
in  his  ark  with  his  three  sons  and  their  wives  and  two  of  all 
sorts  to  perpetuate  the  race  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  It 
was  a  grand  day  in  this  world's  history  when  Pharaoh  and 
his  hosts  and  all  of  his  chariots  and  men  were  swallowed  up 
and  engulfed  by  the  Eed  Sea.  It  was  a  grand  day  in  this 
world's  history  when  a  burning  hail  fell  on  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah and  all  the  plains  thereof  and  destroyed  the  cities 
of  the  plain.  It  was  a  grand  day  in  this  world's  history 
when  in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  king  Hezekiah,  a  hundred 


Whosoever  Will  279 

and  eighty-five  thousand  soldiers  under  the  blast  of  an  arch- 
angel's wing  were  wrapt  in  their  winding  sheets.  It  Avas  a 
grand  day  in  this  world's  history  when  beneath  Korah  and 
Dathan  and  Abii'am  and  their  wicked  company  the  earth 
burst  open  and  swallowed  them  up  out  of  the  sight  of  men, 

THE    NEW   SAVIOR. 

It  was  a  grander  day  in  the  world's  history  when  the  old 
prophet  of  Grod  stood  on  the  hills  of  Judea  with  his  spark  in 
his  hand,  and  let  its  beneficent  rays  shine  down  through 
seven  centuries,  saying:  "Simeon  and  Anna,  prepare  the 
cradle  to  rock  the  babe  of  Bethlehem.''  It  was  a  grand  day 
in  this  world's  history  when  the  star  poised  itself  over  the 
manger  of  Bethlehem  and  when  the  wise  men  gathered 
about  the  babe  of  Bethlehem.  There  they  looked  upon  an 
everlasting  God  lying  asleep  in  Mary's  arms,  and  the  King 
of  Angels  blessed  for  evermore  as  he  was  carried  about  in  a 
virgin's  arms — the  carpenter's  despised  boy.  It  was  a  grand 
day  in  this  world's  history  when,  at  twelve  years  of  age, 
this  Grod-man  surprised  all  the  wisdom  of  Jerusalem  by  his 
forethought  and  by  his  intelligence.  It  was  a  grand  day  in 
this  world's  history  when  the  Son  of  God  notified  his  disci- 
ples, to  whom  he  had  been  sent  from  the  Father,  "  I  give  you 
notice  that  I  must  be  crucified,  and  that  I  will  arise  on  the 
third  day."  It  was  a  grand  day  in  the  world's  history  when 
he  hung  there  suspended  between  two  thieves,  and  cried 
out  with  a  loud  voice,  "  My  God  !  My  God  !  Why  hast  thou 
forsaken  me  ?"  It  was  a  grand  day  in  this  world's  history 
when  they  buried  this  sacrifice  yonder  in  the  grave  of  Jo- 
seph, and  put  the  seal  of  the  Eoman  Government  upon  it, 
and  put  sturdy  Eoman  soldiers  around  it  to  guard  it. 

THE   SACRIFICE   ACCEPTED. 

It  was  a  grand  day  in  the  world's  history  when  on  the 
morning  of  the  third  day  God  summoned  an  angel  to  his  side, 
because  Christ  himself  had  announced  the  fact,  "I  am  the 
sacrifice.  I  go  to  die  for  the  world."  And  now  the  only 
question  with  his  disciples  and  with  all  humanity  is,  "  Will 
God  accept  the  sacrifice?"  He  has  suffered,  bled,  died.  He 
is  buried.  Will  he  ever  rise  again  ?  Will  God  accept  the 
sacrifice? 

It  was  on  the  morning  of  the  third  day  that  God  summon- 


280  WJiosoever  Will. 

ed  an  angel  to  his  side  and  told  him  to  go  to  earth  as  swift 
as  morning  light,  and  roll  away  the  stone  from  the  grave ; 
and  when  he  made  his  appearance  there  at  the  grave  and 
rolled  away  the  stone,  and  the  Son  of  God  stood  up  in  the 
sepulchre  and  took  the  napkins  from  his  jaws  and  the  grave 
clothes  from  his  body,  and  folded  them  up  and  laid  them  to 
one  side,  and  walked  forth  from  the  tomb,  the  first  fruits  of 
the  resurrection;  then  God  accepted  the  sacrifice,  and 
grasped  the  stylus  in  his  own  hand  and  signed  the  magna 
charta  of  man's  salvation.  And  ever  since  that  God-blessed 
moment  it  has  been  written  : 

Whosoever  liveth  and  believeth  shall  never  die. 
It  was  a  grand  day  in  the  world's  history  when  the  Savior 
of  men  stood  yonder,  surrounded  by  a  company  of  five  hun- 
dred, and  a  chariot  descended  from  the  skies,  and  he  stepped 
into  the  chariot  and  above  star  and  moon  disajipeared  until  it 
reached  the  very  throne  of  God  itself.  And  as  they  stood 
gazing  up  into  heaven,  an  angel  flew  back  to  earth  and  shout- 
ed aloud  to  them : 

Ye  men  of  Galilee!  Why  stand  ye  gazing  up  into  heaven?  This  same 
Jesus,  which  is  taken  up  from  you  into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner 
as  ye  have  seen  him  go  into  heaven. 

THE    COMFORTER. 

That  was  a  grand  day  in  this  world's  history  when  the 
hundred  and  twenty  gathered  in  that  upper  room,  that  upper 
chamber  yonder,  in  Jerusalem.  And  they  had  prayed  the 
first  day  and  the  second  day  and  the  third  day,  and  on  until 
the  tenth  day.  They  were  praying  for  the  induement  of 
power  from  on  high.     Christ  had  told  them  : 

*' Tarry  ye  here  at  Jerusalem  until  ye  are  indued  with  power  from  on  high. 
It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away.  After  I  go  away  the  Comforter  will 
come,  the  Holy  Ghost.    He  will  come  to  the  world." 

I  have  often  thought  that  that  expression: 
Jesus  said  it  is  expedient — 

Amounted  to  this  :  '^  The  best  thing  lean  do  for  you  is 
to  leave  the  world  and  go  home  to  the  Father,  and  then  the 
Spirit  will  come." 

^'  Master,  can  there  be  anything  better  than  thy  presence  ? 
Thou  art  the  bread  of  life  to  us.  Thou  art  the  water  of  life  to 
us.     Thou  art  the  door  by  which  if  any  man  enter  he  shall 


Wwsoever  Will  281 

go  in  and  out  and  find  pasture.  Thou  art  the  way  and  the 
truth  and  the  life.  Master,  is  it  expedient,  is  it  best  that 
thou  go  away  ?" 

He  said  :  "  It  is  expedient  that  I  go  to  the  Father/'  And 
on  the  morning  of  the  tenth  day,  as  that  company  gathered 
and  prayed  in  that  upper  chamber,  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  third  person  of  the  adorable  Trinity,  flew  right 
through  the  wounded  side  of  the  Son  of  Grod  and  laved  his 
wings  in  that  precious  blood,  and  flew  down  to  earth  and  came 
in  upon  that  company,  and  filled  the  room  like  a  rushing, 
mighty  wind  ;  and  Peter  opened  the  door,  and  the  company 
followed  him  down  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  and  there,  on  the 
morning  of  the  tenth  day,  he  preached  that  memorable  ser- 
mon in  Jerusalem,  that  won  three  thousand  souls  to  Christ — 
more  conversions  to  Peter  in  that  one  sermon  than  Christ  had 
in  all  his  ministry.  And  Christ  knew  what  he  was  talking 
about  when  he  said  : 

It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away.    If  I  go  away  the  Comforter  will 
come, — the  Spirit  shall  come." 

"  THE   WOOING   OF    THE    SPIRIT. 

That  Spirit  is  the  third  person  of  the  adorable  Trinity. 
God  gave  the  Son  and  the  Son  comes  to  sufl'er,  die  and  to  arise 
again.  And  now  the  Spirit  comes  to  woo  and  beseech  and  im- 
plore and  enlighten  andconvictand  convertthe  world  to  God. 
It  seemed  like  after  God  had  loved  the  race  and  called  them  to 
him  and  they  had  wandered  ofi",  that  they  would  have  died 
without  excuse  ;  but  God  sent  his  Son  to  live  among  us  and 
to  die  for  us  and  to  preach  to  us  and  to  instruct  us ;  and  if 
he  had  stopped  at  that  man  would  have  died  without  excuse. 
But  he  didn't  stop  there.  And  now  the  Holy  Ghost  comes 
into  the  world — the  third  person  of  the  adorable  Trinity, 
and  every  good  resolution  wo  ever  have,  and  every  good 
that  ever  inspired  us,  and  every  good  deed  ever  done,  we 
owe  it  all  to  the  inspiration  and  blessed  influence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God. 

Oh,  thank  God!  we  have  an  ever-present,  omniscient,  om- 
nipresent God  with  us  to-night.  When  I  bid  wife  and  child- 
ren '^  good-by"  at  home,  God  boards  the  train  with  me,  and 
he  is  with  me  all  the  weary  miles  of  my  road  from  home. 
And  then  I  am  conscious  that  God  is  at  home  with  my  fam- 
ily, and  when  I  come  into  the  Christian  homes  of  St.  Louis, 


282  Whosoever  Will 

I  find  Grod  present  in  every  Christian  home,  and  that  God  is 
with  the  missionary  in  China,  and  Grod  is  with  thousands  of 
pulpits  on  earth,     i^o  wonder  the  blessed  Christ  said  : 
It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away.     I  will  send  the  Comforter. 
THE   FRUIT    OF    THE    SPIRIT. 

Oh,  brother,  sister,  hear  me  to-night?  Is  there  in  your 
soul  the  desire  to  be  good  ?  Is  there  a  purpose  to  be  good  ? 
Is  there  a  resolution  to  be  good?  It  was  born  under  the 
touch  of  the  Divine  Spirit  upon  these  cold,  dead  hearts  of 
ours.  And  the  Spirit  comes  to  woo.  He  comes  to  teach. 
He  comes  to  implore.  For  when  he  shall  come  he  will  re- 
prove the  world  of  sin,  and  of  righteousness,  and  of  judg- 
ment to  come. 

Come  Holy  Spirit,  Heavenly  Dove, 
"With  all  thy  quickening  powers. 
Kindle  a  flame  of  sacred  love 
In  these  cold  hearts  of  ours. 

Help  us  to  walk  close  with  God  !  Help  us,  Divine  Spirit, 
ever  to  be  tender  and  impressible  !  Help  us  to  hear  and 
heed  the  Gospel  of  the  Son  of  God  !  The  Divine  Spirit 
broods  over  the  congregation  to-night.  He  touched  your 
heart  to-day.  He  touched  your  heart  last  night  and  day 
before  yesterday.  He  has  touched  a  thousand  hearts  or  more, 
and  called  them  to  a  better  life  in  the  last  few  days  in  this 
city.  And  the  most  fearful  sin  that  you  may  commit  is  to 
wound  the  Spirit  of  God,  to  drive  him  out  of  your  heart  and 
drive  him  away  from  your  presence.     The  book  says ; 

Grieve  not  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  whereby  ye  are  sealed  unto  the  day  of 
redemption. 

GRIEVE    NOT   THE   HOLY   SPIRIT. 

You  may  laugh  at  me.  You  may  deride  me.  You  may 
scoff  at  the  Church.  You  may  defy  God  and  you  may  cruci- 
fy my  Savior  afresh  and  put  him  to  open  shame ;  but  I  warn 
you  to-night:  Take  heed  how  you  trifle  with  the  Spirit  of 
all  grace!  I  have  seen  men  reject  and  insult  the  Divine 
Spirit,  until  I  could  almost  hear  the  Spirit  of  God  as  he 
closed  the  gates  of  heaven  forever  in  an  immortal  spirit's  face. 
My  friend,  to-night,  if  there  is  in  your  soul  the  desire  to  be 
a  Christian,  nurse  it,  foster  it,  shield  it.  Keep  it  there  and 
pray  God  to  fan  the  spark  into  a  living  flame,  that  shall  burn 
on  and  on  when  the  stars  have  i^ouG  and  when  the  moon  shall 


Whosoever  Will  283 

turn  to  blood.  Let's  you  and  I  pray  for  this,  and  whatever 
others  may  do,  God  help  us  to  be  impressible  and  movable 
uuder  the  Divine  Spirit  of  grace. 
The  Spirit  says  come. 
The  third  person  of  the  ever  adorable  Trinity  is  the  ac- 
tive agency  in  the  world  to-day  to  teach  men,  to  move  men, 
to  stir  men  and  use  men,  and  but  for  his  divine  presence  with 
me  as  I  preach  the  gospel,  I  declare  to  the  fact,  that  I  would 
never  have  the  heart  to  take  another  text  in  this  world.  Oh, 
how  many  struggles  the  earnest  preacher  may  have  in  the 
world !  God  only  knows  the  burdens  that  I  have  carried  on 
my  own  poor  head  since  I  landed  in  your  city.  God  only 
knows  the  wakeful  hours,  the  tears  and  the  prayers  that  have 
gone  up  from  my  poor  heart,  and  I  say  :  ^'God  save  the  city  ! 
God  arouse  the  city !  God  save  our  young  men  !  God  save 
our  young  women  !  God  save  the  fathers  and  mothers  in 
this  city  V  And  I  can  almost  hear  God  as  he  whispers  back, 
"I'll  be  with  you.  I'll  stand  by  you.''  And  when  the  din 
and  smoke  of  the  battle  have  blown  away,  you  will  find  that 
I  have  been  your  friend  through  the  thickest  of  the  fight, 
and  all  God  asks  of  the  Christian  people  of  St.  Louis  to-night 
is  to  come  up  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty. 
God  arouse  you!  And  God  help  his  church  in  St.  Louis  to 
heed  the  wooing  of  the  Spirit  and  come  to  the  help.of  the 
Lord,  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty. 
The  Spirit  says,  come. 

THE   spirit's   beseeching   ENTREATY. 

Well,  if  God  had  stopped  at  the  point — given  his  Son  and 
sent  his  Spirit  to  woo  men — we  would  have  died  without  ex- 
cuse. But  God  pushes  his  work  on  and  on  and  on,  until  he 
shall  say  to  a  guilty  world  :  "  What  more  could  I  have  done 
to  my  vineyard  that  I  have  not  already  done?"  God  will 
never  leave  a  stone  unturned,  God  will  never  leave  an  effort 
un-put-forth  as  long  as  man  is  out  of  hell  and  out  of  the  grave. 
And  I  tell  you,  my  congregation  to-night,  I  know  God  is  in 
earnest  about  the  salvation  of  man,  and  I  have  feltthousands 
of  times  that  the  worst  of  sinners  would  rejoice  if  they  were 
to  see  his  face.  God  help  men  to  look  up  to-night  and  see 
their  Father's  face  with  all  the  love  of  his  heart  as  it  beams 
forth,  and  hear  his  voice  as  he  calls  them  to  the  better  life. 


284  Whosoever  Will. 

G-od  loves  you,  and  he  has  given  you  every  manifestation  of 
his  love.     He  tells  you  in  his  blessed  book  : 

When  my  father  and  mv  mother  forsake  me,  then  the  Lord  will  take  me 
up. 

SPARKS   OF   DIVINE   LOVE. 

I  have  seen  a  mother  as  she  followed  a  wayward  boy  on, 
and  on,  and  on,  to  the  very  brink  of  hell,  and  when  the  son 
made  his  final  leap  from  his  mother's  arms,  she  took  his  poor 
body  and  buried  it,  and  would  go  to  his  grave  and  water 
it  with  her  tears  day  after  day.  Oh,  how  that  mother's 
heart  clung  to  that  wayward  boy !  I  have  seen  the  wife 
when  every  friend  in  the  world  had  forsaken  her  husband, 
and  all  mankind  scoffed  him  away  from  their  presence  ; 
when  he  would  come  home  drunken  and  debauched  and 
ruined,  his  precious  wife  would  meet  him  at  the  front  gate, 
and  help  him  up  the  steps,  and  help  him  into  the  room,  and 
carry  him  to  the  bed,  and  pull  off  his  muddy  shoes,  and 
bathe  his  fevered  face,  and  imprint  the  kiss  of  love  and  fidel- 
ity upon  his  dissipated  cheek.  Oh,  why  did  wife  do  that? 
Why  does  mother  do  that?  It  is  just  a  little  of  the  nature 
of  Grod  poured  into  that  mother's  heart  and  that  wife's  heart 
that  makes  her  love  and  cling  to  that  son  and  to  that  hus- 
band as  she  does. 

When  my  father  and  my  mother  forsalce  me,  then  the  Lord  will  take  me 
up. 

THE    MOTHERHOOD    OP    GOD. 

The  sweetest  thought  in  God's  word  to  me  is  the  place 
where  we  are  taught  the  motherhood  of  God.  God  is  not 
only  my  father,  but  God  is  my  mother,  too,  in  all  his  loving 
kindnesses  and  tender  mercies  to  us.  Oh,  my  Father!  my 
Father!  with  the  rod  of  correction,  and  with  the  stern  words 
of  advice,  I  look  to  thee  in  admiration  and  love ;  and  oh,  God, 
my  precious  mother,  I  run  to  thy  arms !  Thou  art  my  moth- 
,er,  I  love  thee  with  all  my  heart. 
And  the  Spirit  says,  Come. 

Oh,  G-od  !  Thou  art  interested  for  us  and  thou  art  interest- 
ed in  us. 

God  did  not  stop  with  that. 
And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come. 

The  Church  of  God  is  the  bride  of  the  Lamb.  I  wish  we 
were  wrapped  in  white  waiting  for  the  Bridegroom.     Oh, 


Whosoever  Will  285 

how  I  wish  we  had  always  lived,  and  always  been   faithful 
to  our  Bridegroom  !     He  said: 
I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you. 

THE   UNFAITHFUL   BRIDE. 

You  see  that  young  man  yonder.  He  has  plighted  his 
vows  to  a  young  lady,  and  he  bids  her  good-by  for  a  short 
time — "I  am  going  West;  I  am  going  West  to  prepare  our 
fortune,  and  build  our  house,  and  have  everything  ready .^' 
Brethren,  that  young  lady,  instead  of  being  faithful  to  that 
earnest,  laborious  young  man  preparing  good  things  for  her, 
is  flirting  with  her  betrothed  husband's  enemies  and  asso- 
ciating with  those  that  despise  her  husband.  God  forgive 
the  unfaithful  girl.  And  while  Christ  is  by  his  divine  pow- 
er and  infinite  wisdom  exhausting  all  the  riches  and  glories 
of  heaven  preparing  for  us  his  bride,  here  we  are  consorting 
with  his  enemies  and  flirting  with  the  gay  and  giddy  godless 
ones  of  the  world.  Precious  Savior  !  forgive  us,  forgive  us ! 
We  will  not  associate  with  the  godless  any  longer. 
The  bride  says,  Come. 

A    GOOD   WORD    FOR   THE    CHURCH. 

I  wished  we  lived  better.  But  there  is  one  thing  I  have 
found  out — we  know  we  have  been  unfaithful;  we  know  we 
have  not  been  what  we  ought  to  have  been.  But  one  thing 
I  can  say  and  tell  the  truth — the  Church  of  God  Almighty 
has  not  lost  her  interest  in  sinners  and  in  the  world.  For 
over  one  thousand  years  the  Church  has  been  on  her  knees 
and  praying  for  sinners,  and  the  message  of  the  Church  of 
God  is  a  God-given  message. 

Come  thou  with  us  and  we  will  do  thee  good,  for  the  Lord  hath  spoken 
good  concerning  Israel. 

You  have  cursed  the  church  and  abused  the  church,  and 
bemoaned  the  church,  and  called  them  hypocrites,  but  do 
you  want  to  see  whether  the  church  loves  you  or  not  ?  If 
the  worst  old  sinner  in  St.  Louis  would  come  with  stream- 
ing eyes  and  say  to  the  church  of  God,  '*Men  and  brethren, 
pray  for  me,  I  want  to  join  your  company  and  go  with  you 
to  heaven/^  I  see  the  church,  in  a  minute,  as  hej*  tears  come 
flowing  down  to  the  earth,  and  she  lifts  her  hand  to  God, 
and  she  says,  '^ Blessed  be  God!  Another  sinner  coming 
to  repentance  and  coming  to  life."     The  old  church  of  God 


286  Whosoever  Will 

does  love  the  world,  and  she  has  been  praying  for  the 
world  in  all  its  ages;  and  while  we  have  forgotten  a  thousand 
things,  and  neglected  a  thousand  things,  thanks  be  unto 
Grod,  we  have  never  neglected  to  pray  for  you,  my  fellow-cit- 
izens. There  is  not  a  day  or  a  night  in  St.  Louis  that  in 
the  Church  of  God  her  best  men  and  women  are  not  on 
their  knees  praying,  ''  God  save  the  wicked  of  the  city  and 
save  the  fallen  of  humanity ; ''  and  the  cry  of  the  Church 
and  the  song  of  the  Church  is,  "  Eescue  the  perishing  and 
save  the  fallen.^' 

THANK  GOD  FOR  THE  CHURCH. 

Thank  God  for  the  old  Church.  She  has  been  worth  all 
the  world  to  me.  I  know  not  but  I  should  have  wandered 
a  poor  motherless  orphan,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  Church 
of  Jesus  Christ.  She  has  been  so  good  to  me.  Oh,  she  has 
been  a  mother  in  the  best  sense  to  me  !  I  never  joined  the 
Church  because  I  thought  I  could  help  it  along,  but  I  joined 
the  Church  that  it  might  take  me,  a  poor  babe,  in  its  arms,  and 
nurture  me  and  feed  me  and  take  care  of  me ;  and  whatever 
the  Church  has  been  to  others,  I  can  say  of  God's  Church  to- 
night, they  have  given  me  my  meat  and  my  drink,  and  they 
have  been  friends  and  brothers  to  me. 

Oh,  friend,  you  will  never  know  what  you  have  missed  by 
staying  out  of  the  pale  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  I  beg  you 
to  hear  the  voice  of  the  Church  of  God  as  it  cries  to-night: 
Come  tliou  with  us,  and  we  will  do  thee  good. 

Won't  you  come?    Won't  you  come? 

The  Church  of  God,  with  her  Bibles  and  missionaries  and 
preachers  and  consecrated  ministry  and  good  women  and 
men  on  earth,  with  her  churches  and  Sabbath-schools,  and 
her  prayer-meetings  and  family  altars — they  all  cry  aloud 
and  say : 

Come  thou  with  us,  and  we  will  do  thee  good. 

HIM    THAT    HEARETH. 
The  Spirit  and  the  hridc  say,  Come. 
It  looks   like  if  God  had  stopped  there  we'd  have  died 
without  excuse — It  goes  further — 

And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come,  and  let  him  that  heareth  say.  Come. 
Oh,  blessed  thought  I  blessed  thought !     A  man  need  not 


Whosoever  Will. 


287 


wait  until  he  comes  into  the  church  before  he  snys  to  those 
around  him, 

Come  thou  with  us.     *    *    *    Let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come. 

We  get  this  figure  from  the  caravan  crossing  the  desert. 
When  the  water  is  all  given  out  on  the  desert  and  man  and 
beast  are  famishing  for  water,  then  they  hold  a  council,  and 
they  start  one  on  ahead  hurriedly ;  and  in  about  five  minutes 
they  start  another,  just  so  as  to  keep  him  in  sound  of  the 
front  one's  voice ;  and  in  five  minutes  more  they  start  an- 
other; and  on  and  on  until  they  are  stretched  out  on  the 
plains  for  miles,  and  finally  the  head  man  finds  the  oasis, 
and  he  hallooes  back:  ''Water,  I  havefound  itT'  to  the  next 


"  Wate?^ !  Water !   We  have  found  it!" 

man,  and  the  next  man  voices  it  on  down  the  line,  and  on 
and  on,  until  the  caravan  hears  the  cry,  ''We  have  found 
it!  Water!  Water!  We  havefound  it!"  And  they  hear  the 
welcome  news  and  press  on  with  all  their  might,  that  they 
may  slake  their  thirst  and  preserve  their  lives. 

THE    APPLICATION. 

And  all  the  way  from  heaven  to  earth,  God  has  strung  out 
a  line,  and  he  shouts  it  from  his  own  lips  in  heaven,  and  we 
catch  it  up  and  pass  it  on  and  on  until  we  shout  at  the  very 


288  Wiosoever  mil. 

gates  of  hell,  "  Como  !  Come!  Come!  and  let  him  that  hear- 
eth  say,  Come !" 

If  you  ever  heard  the  gospel,  preach  it  to  somebody  else 
and  say,  *' Come  on!  Let^s  go  and  live  right  and  do  right 
and  get  to  heaven/' 

Let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come ! 

Let  each  man  be  a  power  that  will  echo  the  call,  and  on 
and  on  down  the  line. 

Once  one  of  our  little  boys  ran  up  a  stair-way  calling  his 
little  brother,  and  as  he  said,  "Buddie  Paul,"  something  up- 
stairs echoed  it  back,  "  Buddie  Paul ! "  He  ran  down  to  his 
mother  and  said,  '^  Mamma,  what  is  that  up-stairs  that  said, 
'Buddie  PauP  every  time  I  said  'Buddie  Paul?'''  and  his 
mother  explained  it  by  telling  him  it  was  the  echo  of  his 
voice — the  walls  of  the  room  above  echoing  his  voice  back. 
And,  brother,  when  Grod  shouts  from  heaven,  let  every  man 
be  the  sounding-board  that  will  pass  it  on  and  on  until  this 
whole  universe  shall  hear  the  glad  words : 

Let  him  that  heareth,  say,  Come ;  and  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the 
water  of  life  freely. 

Let  him  that  heareth  say.  Come. 

OUTSIDE   WORKERS. 

Why,  I  have  often  known  men  to  go  to  work  before  the 
word  got  to  them.  They  have  gone  around  among  their 
friends,  saying  :  "Boys,  look  a-here!  We  have  not  done 
right.  Suppose  we  go  to  church  and  give  our  hearts  to  Grod 
and  live  religious" — and  how  many  men  have  been  brought 
to  Christ  by  men  who  were  not  religious? 

When  I  was  in  Jackson,  Tennessee,  I  was  met  by  the 
Mayor  of  the  city  and  another  gentleman,  and  they  said  to 
me  :  "  We  were  going  to  your  room  to  see  you.  We  have  a 
friend  in  this  town  that  we  want  you  to  talk  to.  We  want 
him  to  be  saved." 

Said  I,  "Gentlemen,  I  am  glad  to  find  jt-qu  interested; 
but,"  said  I,  "gentlemen,  are  you  Christians,  members  of 
the  Church?" 

"No,  Mr.  Jones,  we  are  sorry  we  are  not.  We  are  not 
Christians,  but  we  feel  an  interest  in  our  friend." 

"  Well,"  said  I,  "  God  says  that  when  a  kingdom  is  divi- 
ded against  itself  it  cannot  stand.  And  Satan's  kingdom  is 
divided  in  this  very  town.     His  very  servants  are  going  i<? 


Whosoever  Will.  289 

the  ministers  of  God  and  asking  them  to  go  and  see  their 
friends." 

NEARING   THE   KINGDOM. 

"When  a  man  is  interested  and  says,  ^'  Boys,  let's  do  better," 
that  man  is  not  very  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God.  He  has 
just  put  his  foot  over  the  line,  and  all  he  has  got  to  do  is  to* 
put  it  down,  and  one  other  step,  and  he  is  in  the  kingdom 
of  God. 

Let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come. 

There  are  five  hundred  men  and  women  here  to-night  that 
are  just  putting  their  foot  over  the  dividing  line,  and  all 
you've  got  to  do  is  to  put  that  foot  down  and  bring  the  other 
foot  even  with  it,  and  you  are  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  a  saved 
man — saved  forever  and  forever.  Will  you  put  your  foot 
down  to-night  and  say,  ''  God  helping  me,  I  will  give  myself 
to  God.  I  won't  stand  here  any  longer." 
Let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come. 

FOR   THE    THIRSTY   SOUL. 

And  then  he  said  : 
And  let  him  that  is  athirst  come. 

Whether  you  have  heard  anything  or  not,  God  bless  you, 
the  call  is  to  you.  If  there  is  down  in  your  soul  a  thirst, 
a  hunger  for  a  better  life,  God  stood  with  one  hand  and 
touched  your  heart,  and  made  it  hunger  and  made  it  thirst, 
and  then  he  stood  with  the  other  hand  loaded  with  the 
bread  and  with  the  water  of  life,  and  he  quenched  that 
thirsty  soul's  thirst  forever.  Blessed  be  God  !  He  stands 
ready  to  quench  thirst  and  to  appease  hunger  to-night,  and 
he  is  going  all  over  St.  Louis  with  one  hand  laden  with  the 
bread  of  life  and  the  other  with  the  water  of  life,  and  the 
hungriest  man  will  be  the  first  man  to  get  it  ;  and  I  tell  you, 
hungry  man,  to-night,  when  God  rings  the  dinner  belief 
grace,  throw  down  your  heart  and  come  in,  dinner  is  ready 
to  eat,  and  satisfy  your  longing  need  forever. 
Let  him  that  is  athirst  come. 

If  down  in  your  soul  there  is  a  desire  to  be  a  good  man, 
start  to-night— start  to-night.  If  there  is  a  hungering  for  a 
better  life,  God  says  : 

Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness. 


290  Wliosoever  Will. 

Then  ho  says  again — oh,  how  far  down  the  line  God  brings 
this  to  us;  he  brings  it  right  down  to  where  he  throv/s 
heaven  and  hell  at  every  man's  feet,  and  tells  him  to  take 
his  choice.     Now  he  says  : 

WHOSOEVER  WILL. 
Whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely. 
I  like  that  grand '^  whosoever"  there.  I  have  read  a  heap, 
oh,  I  have  read  a  great  deal  about  election;  but  I  think  I  have 
found  out  from  God's  word  what  you  mean  by  election. 
The  "  elect"  are  the  ''  whosoever-wills,"  and  the  '^non-elect" 
are  the  *' whosoever-wont's."  Now,  which  side  will  you 
take — the  elect  or  the  whosoever-will's,  or  the  non-elect  or 
the  whosoever-wont's  ?  *' Elect,"  whosoever-will.  Thank 
God  for  that  grand  old  word,  and  thank  God  that  as  the  ages 
wear  away  men  see  God  in  nature,  and  see  God  in  all  his 
goodness,  and  see  God  in  his  books.  Preachers  are  coming 
closer  to  that  grand  old  word  every  day,  and  I  verily  be- 
lieve that  I  shall  live  to  see  the  day  when  every  pulpit  in 
this  world  will  be  bottomed  on  that  grand  old  "  whosoever- 
will,"  and  there  they  will  stand  and  preach  the  gospel  of 
the  son  of  God. 

Whosoever  will. 

ANOTHER    STORY. 

That  reminds  me  of  the  penitent  down  in  Georgia  at  the 
altar.  He  was  agonizing,  praying.  The  preacher  went  up 
to  him,  trying  to  encourage  him,  and,  "Well,"  he  said,  '^I 
am  not  one  of  the  elect.  I  am  one  of  the  reprobates;  I  feel 
it  all  over" — and  I  don't  reckon  a  poor  soul  ever  did  try  to 
seek  God  that  the  devil  didn't  slip  up  with  something  of  this 
sort.  *' You  are  one  of  the  reprobates;  Christ  never  died  to 
save  you."  And  there  he  was  in  agony^  and  the  preacher 
said  to  him:  "Well,  my  brother,  listen  to  me  a  minute. 
Now,  if  you  could  see  your  name,  James  B.  Green,  written 
upon  the  Lamb's  book  this  minute,  would  you  believe  that 
Christ  died  for  you  and  you  were  one  of  the  elect?" 

The  poor  fellow  thought  a  moment  and  he  said,  "No,  sir. 
There  are  other  people  in  this  world  of  my  name." 

"  Well,"  said  the  preacher,  "  If  you  could  see  it '  James  B. 
Green,  Scriven  County,  Ga.,'  would  you  believe  it  was  you 
then  ?" 


Whosoever  Will.  291 

^^  Well/'  he  says,  "  There  may  have  been  other  people  of 
my  name  in  this  county  before  I  was  born.     I  don't  know." 

"Well/' said  he,  if  you  could  see  it  'James  B.  Green, 
/Scriven  County,  Ga.,'  and  the  year  ^1867,'  would  you  be- 
lieve it  was  you?" 

''Well,"  he  said,  "it  may  be  there  is  somebody  in  this 
county  now  of  my  name." 

"Well,  said  he,  "  if  you  could  see  it  'James  B.  Green,  of 
Scriven  County,  and  the  Nineteenth  District  and  the  year 
1867,'  would  you  believe  it  was  you  ? 

"  Well,"  he  says,  "  I  could  not  know  definitely." 

"Now,"  he  said,  "my  friend,  God  Almighty  saw  all  that 
trouble  and  he  just  put  it  into  one  word  and  he  said ; 
Whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely. 

And  the  poor  fellow  jumped  up  and  clapped  his  hands 
and  said,  "  Thank  God  ?  I  know  that  means  me." 

A   UNIVERSAL   SALVATION. 
And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely. 
Blessed  be  God  !  It  is  for  all  of  us.     It  is  for  all  of  us.     • 

Whosoever  will. 
Listen,  brother.  It  ain't  "whosoever  feels/'  it  ain't 
"  whosoever  is  fit/'  it  ain't  "whosoever  has  repented/'  it 
ain't  "  whosoever  has  got  faith  /'  it  ain't  "  whosoever  does 
this,  or  that,  or  the  other/'  but  it  is  "  whosoever-will — will 
—will— will." 

LEFT  TO   THE   HUMAN   WILL. 

God  throws  it  all  on  the  will,  and  I  am  glad  he  does.  I 
know  God  traverses  my  emotional  nature,  and  runs  through 
hope  and  fear  and  desire  and  anxiety  and  dread  and  afi'ec- 
tion.  God  runs  all  through  my  emotional  nature  and  my 
sensibilities.  God  does  as  he  pleases  through  my  sensibili- 
ties. When  God  reaches  intellect  he  goes  up  through  per- 
ception and  conception  and  judgment  and  memory  and  rea- 
son, and  all  the  faculties  of  the  mind.  God  goes  through 
them  all  and  asks  me  no  questions.  But  when  God  goes  to 
the  door  of  the  human  will  he  stands  on  tiptoe,  and  knocks, 
and  says : 

Behold  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock :  if  any  man  hear  my  voice  and  open 
the  door  I  will  come  in  to  him  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  ho  with  me. 

Thank  God,  it  is  "whosoever  will."     If  you  will,  God  will ; 

19 


292  Whosoever  Will 

and  I  say  to-night,  God  don't  say  whosoever  feels"  or  "who- 
soever says"  this  or  that  or  the  other,  but  he  throws  it  all  on 
your  will  as  a  man,  and  says  : 

Whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely. 
And  I  like  the  conclusion : 
•     Let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely. 
Blessed  be  God,  ye  thirsty  men  can  drink;  and  there  is 
enough  for  to-day,  enough  for  all  of  us,  enough  forever  and 
evermore.     Come  and  drink  freely. 

"let"  him  take. 

And  there  is  another  little  word  in  there  I  like,  that  little 
word  "let." 

Let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely. 

Six  thousand  years  ago  God  said,  "Let  there  be  light,"  and 
there  was  light.  It  was  a  word  of  command,  and  God  looks 
out  upon  a  famishing  race,  with  the  water  of  life  in  reach, 
and  he  says,  "Let  him  come;"  and  when  God  says  "Let  him 
come,"  he  says,  "Go  before  him,  powers  and  principalities, 
and  clear  the  way.  Let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely." 
God  has  taken  down  the  mountains  and  filled  up  the  valleys, 
and  made  you  a  straight  and  even  and  smooth  way,  so  that 
you  can  drink  and  live  forever,  and  if  you  perish,  you  per- 
ish because  you  will  not  live.  God  never  suffered  a  soul  to 
be  captured  and  carried  away  by  the  enemy  of  souls,  and 
will  never  suffer  you  to  die — as  long  as  you  look  to  Christ 
or  lean  to  Christ,  or  pray  to  Christ,  God  will  not  suffer  you 
to  die.  God  never  suffered  the  devil  to  take  possession  of  an 
immortal  soul  and  drag  it  down  to  hell,  until  that  soul  walk- 
ed up  to  the  feet  of  the  devil,  and  stacked  its  arms  and  said, 
"I  surrender  forever."  Then  God's  own  power  and  arm  can 
never  rescue  you.  God  help  you  to-night  to  say,  "God's 
goodness  leadeth  me  to  repentance,  and  I  intend  to  lead  a 
better  life." 

THE   LAST   APPEAL. 

!N"ow,  before  we  leave  this  audience-room,  how  many  men 
in  the  Church  or  out  of  the  Church  will  stand  up  to-night 
and  say,  "I  will  get  closer  to  God,  and  drink  more  of  the 
water  of  life,  God  being  my  helper."  And  I  hope  every  man 
and  woman  in  this  house  will  long  to-night  for  the  better 
life,  with  the  sweet  assurance  that  God  will  reach   down 


Whosoever  Will  293 

and  give  them  that  for  which  they  seek.  'Now  every  man 
and  woman  here  to-night  that  will  stand  on  their  feet,  and, 
by  standing  np,  say:  ^'I  will  drink  more  freely  of  that  wat- 
er and  eat  more  of  that  bread.  I  will  get  closer  to  God." 
NoAV  every  man  of  you,  that  feels  that  way,  stand  up,  and 
say,  ^^Here  is  one!  Here  is  one!"  Now  we  will  see  how 
many  here  to-night  in  the  church  or  out  of  it  will  make  this 
declaration. 
[The  vast  audience  rose  in  a  body.] 


^ERjVlON  XVII. 
Jf^ue  I^epentajmce, 


If  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and 
to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness. — 1st  John  1 ;  9. 
fl^His  is  an  epitome  of  the  gospel.  It  is  wonderful  how  the 
i^  apostle  could  put  the  whole  gospel  into  three  lines  like 
this.  I  mean  the  whole  of  the  gospel  on  the  human  side,  and 
I  dare  say  at  this  point  that  the  only  side  of  the  gospel  that 
you  and  I  have  to  do  with,  is  the  human  side.  In  the  great 
work  of  redemption,  I  have  but  one  question  to  ask  :  *'  Lord, 
what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ? ''  Til  never  stop  to  ask  God 
what  he  is  going  to  do,  and  how  he  is  going  to  do  it,  and  when 
he  is  going  to  do  it;  but  the  question  that  engages  my  mind 
is,  '^  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?  "  I  never  preach 
on  the  divine  side  of  the  gospel.  The  water  is  deep  out 
there,  and  little  boats  ought  to  stay  near  the  shore.  I'd 
want  to  be  a  first-class  swimmer  if  I  should  go  out  in  the 
depths  of  divine  mysteries,  and  inquire  of  God  what  are  the 
divine  plans  and  the  divine  modes  and  the  divine  '^  when'' 
and  the  ^ivine  ''  how."  These  are  questions  that  never 
bother  me  at  all.  I  simply  want  to  know  what  God  wants 
me  to  do,  and  if  he'll  tell  me,  I'll  do  that  and  trust  him  for 
the  rest. 

And  now  St.  John  gives  us  clearly  and  pointedly  our  side 
of  the  gospel  in  these  words  : 

If  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to 
cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness. 

Suppose  we  read  the  text  this  way — and  we  do  no  violence 
to  the  sense  of  the  text : 

If  we  repent  of  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and 
to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness. 

THE    ALPHABET   OF   RELIGION. 

Eepentance  to  a  man  in  this  world,  in  every  moral,  spirit- 
ual sense,  on  his  way  to  God,  is  just  what  the  alphabet  is  to 
294 


True  Bepentance,  295 

the  man  of  letters  and  to  the  scholar.  We  see  that  little  boy, 
four  years  old,  standing  at  his  mother's  knee.  She  is  teach- 
ing him  the  alphabet,  just  as  my  mother  taught  me  the  al- 
phabet. And  when  I  learned  the  alphabet,  so  that  I  could 
begin  at  '^A''  and  go  to  ''Z,''  and  commence  with  ''Z"  and  go 
back  to  "A/'  then  mother  would  put  her  finger  at  the  mid- 
dle of  the  alphabet  and  start  me  up  and  down  until  I  learned 
the  alphabet  perfect  and  knew  my  ABC  well.  Then  my 
mother  turned  the  leaf  and  said  :  *'Now,  son,  you  may  spell 
some.''  And  I  thought  in  my  little  heart:  ''Well,  I'll  leave 
my  ABC  the  first  week."  So  I  turned  over  to  the  next 
page  and  commenced  to  spell,  but  I  saw  before  I  spelt  a 
word  that  I  could  not  spell  without  my  ABC,  and  the  first 
word  was  "a — b,  ab,"  and  "i — b,  lb,"  and  I  saw  that  I 
couldn't  spell  without  my  letters;  and  I  spelled  on,  and  she 
taught  me  on  till  I  got  over  to  "baker;"  and  "that's  a  good 
way,"  I  thought;  but  I  found  I  couldn't  spell  "baker"  with- 
out the  "b"  and  the  "a"  and  the  "k"  and  the  "e"  and  the 
"r."  And  I  went  on  until  I  got  way  over  to  "publication  ;" 
and  I  thought  I  was  nearly  graduated  then  ;  but  I  couldn't 
even  spell  "publication"  without  the  "p"  and  the  "u"  and 
the  "b"  and  so  on.  Well,  after  I  had  started  to  school  and 
got  through  the  spelling-book,  my  teacher  said,  "  Now,  tell 
your  mother  to  get  you  a  first  reader."  "Well,"  I  thought, 
"good-by,  A  B  C,  I  am  done  with  you  now;"  but  when  I 
opened  my  first  reader,  the  first  page  of  my  first  reader  was 
covered  with  the  alphabet,  and  I  couldn't  read  a  line  with- 
out the  alphabet. 

couldn't  shake  the  alphabet. 

And  so  I  went  through  the  first,  second  and  third  readers; 
and  then  my  teacher  said,  "Now  you  must  get  you  an 
arithmetic.  "  Well,  I  thought,  I'm  in  arithmetic.  That's 
the  science  of  numbers,  and  I  won't  have  any  alphabet 
in  that.  It's  'good-by,  alphabet,'  now."  And  I  opened 
my  arithmetic,  and  found  a  mathematical  proposition  or 
question  could  not  be  stated  without  the  alphabet;  and  I 
went  on  and  on,  and  by-and-by  they  said,  "Now,  we'll  put 
you  into  geography,"  "Well,"  said  I,  "that  geography 
might  give  me  some  idea  of  this  earth's  surface,  and  I  won't 
have  any  alphabet  in  that;  but  I  found  my  geography,  every 


296  True  Itepentance, 

page  of  it,  was  covered  with  the  alphabet.  And  by-and-by, 
I  went  into  rhetoric,  and  into  philosophy,  and  on  and  on, 
and  after  awhile  they  said,  ''We'll  put  you  in  Latin.'' 
"Well,"  I  thought,  "in  Latin  I'll  never  be  troubled  with  the 
alphabet,  but  I  found  I  needed  the  alphabet  when  I  took  up 
my  Latin  grammar;"  and  so  I  progressed  in  learning,  and 
when  I  went  into  Greek  they  called  the  letters  by.  different 
names,  but  I  found  out  at  last  in  the  Greek  that  we  needed 
the  alphabet.  And  on  and  on  as  I  go  I  need  the  alphabet, 
and  when  the  student  shall  end  his  college  course  and  his  di- 
ploma is  given  him,  why,  his  very  diploma  is  written  in  the 
alj^habet ;  and  so  the  higher  he  climbs  in  literature,  and  the 
higher  heights  he  reaches,  the  more  he  appreciates  the  fact 
that  every  step  of  his  upward  way  is  made  through  the  al- 
phabet and  by  the  alphabet. 

THE  ALPHABET  OF  REPENTANCE. 

Well,  now,  just  exactly  what  the  alphabet  is  to  the  man  of 
letters,  is  repentence  to  the  man  on  his  way  to  God.  The  first 
religious  thing  a  man  ever  did  in  this  world  was  to  repent; 
and,  as  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  have  been  repenting  every 
day  since  I  started,  and  about  the  last  thing  I  ever  want  to 
do  is  to  kneel  down  in  hearty  repentance  before  God  and  go 
to  heaven  a  sinner  saved  by  grace. 

Eepentance.     Well,  we'll  take  the  terms  of  the  text : 
If  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to 
cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness. 

]N"ow,  here's  a  plain,  pointed  declaration  from  the  lips  of 
God. 

If  we  confess  our  sins — 

I  like  the  term  "confess."  It  is  a  very  potent, significant 
term  in  the  sense  in  which  this  text  uses  it.  "  Eepentance" 
cannot  mean  more  than  "confession"  means  in  this  text.  We 
might  understand  "repentance"  better.  We  are  more  famil- 
iar with  the  discussion  of  that  word  "repentance;"  and  yet, 
after  all  the  definitions  of  "repentance"  I  have  seen  in  the 
book,  a  good  old  woman  gave  me  the  best  definition  of  re- 
pentance I  ever  heard. 

TWO    DEFINITIONS. 

I  was  out  talking  with  her  on  religion,  and  she  said  to  me  : 
"Brother,  I'll  tell  you  what  repentance  is." 


True  Repentance*  297 

SaidI,  ^^What?'' 

Said  she,  "It  is  being  so  sorry  for  your  meanness  that  you 
ain^t  going  to  do  it  any  more." 

''Well/'  said  I,  "you've  got  it  down  right  for  certain/' 

There's  no  such  definition  in  the  books  as  that.  And  she 
said : 

"I'll  tell  you  what  religion  is." 

Said  I,  "What?" 

She  says,  It  is  this  :  "If  Grod  will  forgive  me  for  my  mean- 
ness I  won't  want  to  do  it  any  more." 

"Well,"  I  said,  "  now  you  have  got  the  whole  question  in 
a  nutshell." 

Eepentance  is  this  :  "I  am  so  sorry  for  my  meanness  that  I 
won't  do  it  any  more  ;"  and  religion  is,  "I  am  so  glad  that 
God  is  so  good  to  forgive  me,  that  I  won't  want  to  do  it  any 
more." 

Confession  !  I  have  noticed  this  fact  in  my  experience : 
that  a  man's  reformation  will  always  go  down  as  deep,  and 
out  as  broad,  as  his  confession  is.  An  honest  confession,  it 
is  said,  is  good  for  the  soul,  and  a  man  is  never  willing  to 
confess  until  he  is  willing  to  quit.  And  a  man  is  never 
ready  to  confess  until  he  is  ready  to  quit. 

THE   TEST    OF   REPENTANCE. 

Now,  let  me  illustrate  what  I  mean.  You  may  take  any 
drunkard  in  St.  Louis;  let  him  confess  his  sins  to  Grod  and 
man;  let  him  quit  and  let  him  join  the  Church  and  serve 
God;  and  every  experience  meeting  you  have,  that  fellow 
will  jump  up  and  say,  "Brethren,  glory  to  God!  I  was 
saved  from  a  drunkard's  grave  !  I  was  the  worst  drunkard 
that  ever  lived  in  St.  Louis,  and  oh,  what  a  miserable 
drunken  wretch  I  have  been."  He  has  quit.  There's  an- 
other fellow,  he  hasn't  quit — you  can  tell  it  by  his  nose — 
and  you  say: 

"Friend,  do  you  drink?" 

"No, sir!  I  don't  know  one  sort  from  another.  I  never 
drank  a  drop  in  my  life." 

What's  the  matter  with  him?  He  hasn't  quit,  you  see. 
And  no  man  is  ready  to  confess  until  he  is  ready  to  quit. 

You  take  a  gambler,  a  notorious  gambler,  and  let  him 
be  converted  to  God  and  join  the  Church,  and  all  at  once 


298 


2  rue  Repentance, 


he  gets  lip  and  says:  ^'Brethren,  I  have    been  the  worst 
gambler.     I  have  gambled  every  day.     I  have  gambled  all 

night  many  a  time.  I  have 
led  a  miserable  gambler's 
life."  "Well,  you  take  one 
of  the  blacklegs  of  the  city, 
and  get  him  up  here,  and 
say: 

"■  Do  you  gamble?" 
"  No,    sir !   I   donH   know 
one    card  from   another.     I 
never  played  a  game  in  my 
life." 

What's   the    matter    with 
him?    He  hasn't  quit;  don't 
"No,  sir!  I  don't  hiow  o?ie  sort       you  see? 
from  another,'' 


A  SINFUL  PECULIARITY. 

And  there  is  one  peculiarity  about  sin.  It  not  only  makes 
a  fool  of  a  man,  but  it  will  make  him  a  fraud.  About  nine- 
tenths  or  eleven-tenths  of  the  lying  done  in  this  world  is  to 
get  out  of  something  we  have  done  that  is  wrong.  Isn't 
that  true?  How  many  men  in  this  house  who  drink  whisky 
can  stand  up  and  say,  "I  never  told  my  wife  a  lie  about  it 
in  my  life?"  How  many  drinking  men  in  St.  Louis  can 
stand  up  and  say,  ^'I  am  a  regular  steady  drinker,  but  I 
never  told  my  wife  a  falsehood  about  it  in  my  life  ?"  There 
isn't  one  drunkard  in  fifty  that  will  confess  to  how  much  he 
does  drink.  There  isn't  one  gambler  in  fifty  that  will  ever 
confess  to  God  or  man  the  gambler's  life  that  he  leads.  And 
the  best  proof  in  the  world  that  a  man  has  reformed  is  the 
fact  of  his  confessing  his  guilt  before  Grod  and  man ;  or,  to 
illustrate  further: 

'  I  recollect  that  once  when  I  was  pastor,  I  had  two  mem- 
bers up  in  the  Church  for  drunkenness.  One  fellow  got  up 
and  said  he: 

''  Brethren,  I  went  to  town  the  other  day,  and  I  didn't  eat 
any  dinner,  and  I  took  one  little  drink.  It  flew  to  my  head 
and  made  me  sort  of  tight,  and  I  hope  you'll  all  forgive 
me." 


True  Repentance,  '     299 

"Well,  the  Church  forgave  him;  but  I  said,  as  he  went  out 
of  the  door,  to  the  brethren  : 

^'  That  fellow  will  get  drunk  again  the  first  time  he  goes 
to  town  V 

They  said  :  '^  How  do  you  know?^' 

*'  Well,''  said  I,  ^'  he  told  two  or  three  lies  in  his  short 
confession.  Did  you  notice  that?  He  said  he  just  took  one 
little  drink,  and  that  wouldn't  make  anybody  but  a  fool 
drunk,  in  the  first  place;  and  in  the  second  place,  he  said 
it  made  him  'sort  of  tight;'  and  from  all  I  can  hear  he  was 
the  loosest  fellow  that  has  been  floating  round  lately.  He 
told  two  point-blank  lies  in  one  little  confession,  and,"  sai(j  I, 
"  he'll  get  drunk  again  the  first  time  he  goes  to  town  again." 

And  sure  enough  he  did. 

THE   OTHER   FELLOW. 

The  other  one  got  up  and  said : 

''  Brethren,  if  I  may  call  you  such,  I  went  to  town,  and  I 
made  a  brute  of  myself.  I  disgraced  myself  and  the  Christ 
that  I  profess."  And,  said  he,  ''  If  you  all  can  bear  with 
me  and  forgive  me,  I  want  you  to  pray  for  me  and  help  me. 
I  have  been  begging  Grod  to  forgive  me,  and  if  you  can  bear 
with  such  a  wretch  as  I,  I  hope  you  will,  and  pardon  me 
this  time." 

I  said  to  them,  after  he  went  out: 

''  I'll  go  his  security.  I'll  go  on  his  bond  almost  with  my 
immortality'',  if  such  a  thing  is  necessary.     He  has  grit." 

''How  do  you  know?"  they  said. 

"Why,"  said  I,  "he  confessed  to  the  bottom,  and  when  a 
man  gets  down  to  the  bottom  with  his  confession  he  is  re- 
formed to  the  bottom." 

BLUBBERING   PENITENTS. 

Confession!  Eepentance  I  It  means  nothing  more  than 
this:  "I  have  quit!  I  have  done!"  Eepentance  don't  mean 
blubbering  and  crying.  Here's  a  poor  fellow  now,  who's 
been  getting  drunk  everyday  for  a  month.  He  comes  home 
at  nights  blubbering  and  tells  his  wife : 

"  Sho  sorry  (hie)  I  got  drunk  ;  but — "  and  its  "boo  hoo" 
and  cry,  and  cry.  "I'm  so  sorry  I  got  drunk  to-day.  Wifey, 
I  h-hope  you'll  forgive  me." 

And  he  goes  right  down  town  and  gets  drunk  again  the 


300  True  Repentance, 

next  day,  and  comes  home  drunk;  and  he'll  blubber  and 
he'll  cry.  Well,  you  see,  blubbering  ain't  the  thing  at  all, 
and  his  wife  gets  disgusted  with  him,  and  tells  him  : 

^' You  needn't  come  round  me  with  your  blubbering.  I 
despise  it.  I  despise  it.  It  doesn't  amount  to  anything  in  the 
world." 

But  he  comes  home  sober  one  evening;  and  he  says,  with 
his  eye  light  and  all  his  senses  in  full  play  : 

^' Wife,  I  have  quit  and  done  now.  I'll  never  drink  an- 
other drop  while  Grod  lets  me  live." 

Well,  he  don't  blubber  about  it  a  bit.  That's  just  what 
his  wife  wanted — just  waiting  for  him  to  quit;  that  was  all. 
And  a  man  needn't  think,  because  he  comes  to  Christ  snub- 
bing around  the  altar,  that  ^'I'm  the  best  penitent  they  have 
had,"  and  then  go  to  snubbing  and  crying.  But  it's  ''  I  have 
quit,  quit."  That's  it.  "I  have  done  with  it."  Repentance 
is  reformation,  and  nothing  else  is  repentance  except  refor- 
mation. 

NO  NEED  FOR  BLUBBERING. 

Suppose  you  had  a  boy  that  was  going  into  wickedness 
and  prodigality  and  intemperance,  and  going  on  and  on  in 
that,  what  would  you  care  for  your  boy  coming  to  you 
every  day  or  two,  shedding  tears,  and  saying :  "  I  am  so  sor- 
ry, father,  I  have  done  this  way."  You  would  just  straighten 
him  up,  and  look  at  him,  and  say  :  ^'  Son,  you  needn't  come 
blubbering  around  me  :  you  just  quit,  and  when  you  are 
quit  there's  no  use  in  blubbering,  and  you  needn't  blubber 
until  you  quit." 

God  is  my  father  and  I  am  his  child.  And  what  does  the 
Lord  want  me  to  do  in  every  sense?  Brother,  let  you  and 
me  cease  to  evil  and  learn  to  do  well. 

Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way  and  the  unrighteous  man  his  thoughts ; 
and  let  him  return  unto  the  Lord,  and  he  will  have  mercy  upon  him;  and  to 
our  God ;  for  he  will  abundantly  pardon. 

NO   MYSTERY   ABOUT   RELIGION. 

How  much  mystery  we  have  wrapped  up  with  this  thing 
we  call  religion  !  The  Lord  wants  every  guilty  man  in  the 
world  to  quit  his  wickedness,  turn  away  from  his  sins  and 
then  come  to  God,  and  he  sha/11  have  eternal  life.  The  devil 
don't  want  any  better  joke  on  a  preacher  than  to  get  up  in 


True  Bepentance.  801 

the  pulpit  and  split  a  hair  a  whole  mile  long  between  eran- 
gelical  repentance  and  legal  repentance.  The  devil  is  al- 
ways glad  when  he  sees  a  man  giving  his  whole  time  to  that 
kind  of  thing.  And  there  is  that  preacher,  and  he  is  de- 
fining repentance  now,  and  he  is  giving  the  world  his  views 
of  evangelical  repentance  and  legal  repentance.  I  say  to 
the  world — and  it  is  the  message  of  my  Lord  and  Master — 
*'  If  you  want  God  to  take  hold  of  you,  you  quit !  you  quit ! 
you  quit ! " 

OHURCH    PENITENTS. 

Well,  many  a  time  we  members  of  the  Church  get  very 
sorry,  and  we  get  so  sorry  that  we  can  shed  some  tears 
for  our  past  life.  Now,  let  me  speak  a  word  to  you,  brother, 
sister.  There  is  a  brother  who  is  neglecting  his  family  al- 
tar; he  has  let  the  family  altar  fires  go  out,  and  he  is  neg- 
lecting his  duty  as  a  father,  as  a  husl)and ;  and  now  he  comes 
up  to  the  Lord  here  and  says  :  ''  Oh,  Lord  !  I  have  been  a 
great  sinner.  Forgive  me  for  Christ's  sake/'  And  he  sheds 
a  great  many  tears )  but  he  don't  take  up  his  family  prayer, 
he  don't  make  any  repentance  in  the  world.  Brother,  you 
need  not  get  up  out  of  your  seat,  but  sit  right  there,  and 
say:  "I  am  sorry  I  have  neglected  the  family  altar,  and, 
God  helping  me,  I  will  quit  my  neglect  and  follow  up  my 
family  prayer  until  God  calls  me  to  him." 

There  is  another  brother  says:  *' I  have  not  been  to  a 
prayer-meeting  for  a  year."  Brother,  you  need  not  cry 
about  it,  but  say,  ^'God  helping  me,  I  am  going  to  be  out 
here  every  Wednesday  night  to  the  prayer-meeting;  else 
I  will  send  my  doctor's  certificate  to  my  preacher,  and 
show  I  was  sick  abed  and  couldn't  come." 

NONSENSE   ABOUT   FEELING. 

We  have  got  theories  enough  ;  we  have  got  all  sorts  of 
theories,  and  plenty  of  theories  to  run  a  hundred  worlds. 
What  we  want  now  is  something  practical — something  that 
means  something. 

A  fellow  has  done  wrong,  has  swindled  a  customer,  and 
he  is  feeling  awful  bad  about  it;  he  never  felt  so  bad  in  his 
life.  Now,  brother,  it  doesn't  matter  how  you  feel.  Are 
you  willing  to  take  the  overplus  back  home  to  your  brother 
and  say,  "Here  is  what  I  have  overcharged  you  with?"  or 


302  True  Repentance. 

will  j6u  keep  it?  There  is  something  practical  about  that. 
I  like  that  sort  of  feeling  a  fellow  felt  when  he  heard  that  a 
neighbor's  cow  died  j  and  he  said  to  the  other  neighbors: 
''Oh,  how  sad  it  is  !  I  am  so  sorry  for  it."  "How  sorry  do 
you  feel  ?  Ten  dollars'  worth  to  help  him  get  another  cow  ?  " 
I  like  to  see  a  fellow's  sorrow  take  a  turn  on  him  and  manifest 
itself  in  a  j^ractical  way  ;  don't  you  see  ? 

SOMETHING   PRACTICAL   WANTED. 

And  that's  what's  the  matter  with  the  world  to-day.  They 
are  looking  for  a  practical  test  in  our  Christianity;  and  they 
just  simply  think  that  religion  is  confined  to  the  meeting- 
house and  to  our  connection  with  the  Church.  Oh,  breth- 
ren, let  us  teach  this  world  there  is  something  grander  and 
nobler  about  religion  than  simply  a  few  mysterious  theories 
about  a  person  or  a  substance.     That  is  it. 

Eepentance.  Confession.  I  am  never  troubled  much 
about  a  man  when  he  says  to  me,  "Jones,  I  have  made  up 
my  mind  to  quit  everything  that  Grod's  book  condemns.  I 
will  never  do  it  again."  I  get  very  hopeful  of  that  sort  of  a 
fellow;  and  when  he  says  to  me,  "Well,  I  haven't  got  any 
feeling."  "  Well,"  said  I,  "  what  do  you  want  to  talk  about 
feeling  for?  Who  said  anything  about  feeling?  The  Lord 
said, 

Let  the    wicked    man    forsake   his    way  and  the  unrighteous  man  his 
thoughts. 

And  here  you  are,  after  you  know  what  the  Lord  wants 
you  to  do,  growling  about  feeling !  Where  do  you  get  that 
idea?  Where  does  that  come  from  ?  Brethren,  I  say  to  you 
to-night,  if  there  is  nothing  in  religion  but  feeling,  I  haven't 
got  a  bit,  for  if  I  have  any  feeling  in  me  to-night  I  couldn't 
locate  it  to  save  my  life. 

FEELING    AND   PRINCIPLE. 

Feeling!  You  know  the  diiference  between  feeling  and 
principle?  Yonder  is  an  old  sail-boat  out  in  the  middle  of 
the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  when  the  wind  blows,  why,  she 
travels  ten  miles  an  hour;  but  let  the  wind  lull,  and  she  will 
lie  there  two  weeks,  within  a  hundred  yards  of  where  the 
wind  left  her.  She  don't  go  anywhere.  That  is  feeling. 
When  the  wind  blows,  off  she  goes. 

What  is  principle.    Yonder  is  a  grand  old  ocean  steamer, 


True  Repentance,  303 

and  when  the  wind  blows  she  spreads  her  sails  and  works 
her  steam,  and  on  she  goes;  and  when  the  wind  lulls,  the 
engineer  pulls  his  throttle  wider  open,  and  she  goes  at  the 
rate  of  fifteen  miles  an  hour,  whether  the  wind  blows  or  not. 
And  that  is  the  difference  between  principle  and  feeling. 
And  if  I  never  get  any  more  feeling  this  side  of  eternity,  I 
am  going  to  serve  God  and  do  right,  because  it  is  right,  and 
I  won't  do  wrong,  because  it  is  wrong.  A  man  that's  hunt- 
ing for  feeling ! 

STRANGE   IDEAS   FROM    THE   PULPIT. 

And  we  have  taught  this  world  a  great  many  strange  ideas 
about  religion,  from  the  pulpit.  There  is  a  sort  of  a  semi- 
infidel.  He  is  a  little  fellow.  He  has  never  grown  much. 
But  he  thinks,  "Well,  from  what  I  heard  the  preachers  say, 
there  ain't  any  hope  for  me;  I  am  shut  out  of  the  pale; 
no  hope  for  me,  because  I  don't  believe  a  heap  of  things 
in  the  Bible;"  and  he  thinks  he  is  ruined  because  he 
don't.  I  strike  a  heap  of  these  little  infidels  that  want 
religion,  and  I  never  struck  any  of  the  sort  except  these 
small  ones.  He  says  he  wants  to  be  a  Christian,  but  don't 
believe  that  Jonah  swallowed  the  whale;  and  he  don't  be- 
lieve that  the  three  Hebrew  children  went  into  the  fiery  fur- 
nace ;  and  he  don't  believe  in  these  big  fish  tales ;  and  I  just 
say  to  him,  "You  poor  little  simple-headed  thing,  God  never 
said  ^Give  me  your  head/  or  'Give  me  your  feet:'  but  'Give 
me  your  heart;'  and  God  knows  your  little,  old  persimmon 
head  is  chock  full  of  devilment.  He  never  bothers  about 
your  head.  He  doesn't  say,  'Give  me  your  head,'  but  he 
says,  'Give  me  your  heart :'  and  God  will  comb  the  kinks  out 
of  your  head  mighty  fast  if  you  will  just  give  him  your 
heart."  He  is  just  one  of  those  "end  fiddles,"  as  the  boys 
call  him,  and  he  just  thinks,  because  his  little  head  has  been 
chock  full  of  little  things  for  a  great  many  years,  that  will 
make  the  Lord  turn  away  from  him  in  despair. 

GOD    doesn't    hate    SINNERS. 

Why,  brother,  when  my  boy  gets  wrong  notions  in  his 
head,  that  don't  make  me  hate  my  boy.  I  just  turn  to  him, 
and  say  :  "My  son,  if  you  will  submit  yourself  to  my  disci- 
pline I  will  promise  you  a  pure  life."  And  I  will  say  this 
to  you;   Yonr  head  will  get  right  straight  when  I  get  your 


304  True  Bepentance. 

life  straight.     A  man  don't  do  like  he  believes,  but  he  be- 
lieves like  he  does.     Don't  you  see? 

Here  is  a  man  talking  about  doubts.  I  never  had  any- 
thing but  doubts  in  my  life.  And  if  you  want  to  get  doubt 
out  of  your  heart,  you  go  right  down  and  pull  it  up  by  the 
roots,  and  there  is  a  seed  at  the  bottom  of  that  top  root,  and 
the  name  of  that  seed  is  sin, 

A    CURE   FOR   INFIDELITY. 

And  I  will  say  to  you  all  to-night  that  the  best  cure  for  in- 
fidelity in  the  earth  is  for  a  fellow  to  just  go  on  living  the 
pure  precepts  of  the  Bible,  and  his  head  will  come  straight. 
A  man  cannot  start  head  foremost  towards  God.  He  will 
strike  a  hard  substance  and  break  his  old  head.  You  start 
heart  foremost — that's  the  way. 

God  says:  "Give  me  thine  heart — give  me  thine  heart." 

Down  in  one  of  the  towns  in  a  Southern  city,  a  man — some 
of  you  would  know  the  man,  if  I  were  to  call  his  name — got 
interested  in  the  meeting,  and  came  to  me  and  said  : 

"Mr.  Jones,  I  really  in  my  heart  want  to  be  a  good  man, 
but  I  don't  believe  in  the  divinity  of  Christ — I  can't  to  save 
my  life — and  I  want  to  be  a  good  man. 

Said  I,  "Do  you?" 

He  said,  "Yes." 

"Well,"  said  I,  "to-night  when  I  open  the  doors  of  the 
church,  you  come  up  and  join  the  Church." 

"What!"  said  he;  "I  join  the  Church,  Mr.  Jones,  and  I 
don't  believe  in  the  divinity  of  Christ ! " 

Said  I,  "Your  trouble  is  your  mouth.  If  you  just  shut 
your  mouth,  I  will  get  you  straight  in  twenty-four  hours." 

BOUND   TO   OBJECT. 

"Now,"  said  I,  "to-night  you  come  up  and  join  the 
church." 

"Why," 

"Now,  just  listen  to  that  mouth.  It  has  been  your  trouble 
all  your  life  and  you'll  just  talk  yourself  to  hell  if  you  don't 
shut  your  mouth.  Now,"  I  said,  "when  I  open  the  doors  to- 
night you  come  up  and  say  :  "  The  best  I  can  do  is  to  give 
my  heart  to  God." 

"Why,  Mr.  Jones," 

"  You   don't  open   your   mouth.     You   don't  understand. 


True  Bepentance,  305 

Will  you  just  shut  your  mouth,  and  I  will  get  you  all 
straight/' 

''  Well/'  said  he,  ^'  I  cannot," 

''Now,''  says  I,  "just  listen  to  that.  You  will  talk  your- 
self into  the  pit." 

And  next  day  I  met  him,  and  he  said,  ''  Mr.  Jones,  I  have 
been  thinking  very  seriously  of  what  you  said,  but  my  head 
is  not  straight.     I  cannot  believe  right." 

"Well,"  said  I,  "You  just  shut  your  mouth  and  go  and  do 
just  like  a  Christian  ought  to  do,  and  you  will  come  out 
straight." 

Well  that  night,  to  my  utter  astonishment,  that  fellow  came 
up  trembling  and  joined  the  Church,  and  he  said  to  me  the 
next  day  : 

ANOTHER   CONUNDRUM. 

"Now,  sir,  Mr.  Jones,  when  they  ask  me  whether  I  believe 
in  God,  the  Father  Almighty,  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth, 
and  in  Jesus  Christ,  his  only  son,  our  Lord — when  they  ask 
me  that,  what  must  I  say  ?" 

Said  I,  "  You  shut  your  mouth,"  and  said  I,  "  If  you  won't 
talk  I'll  get  you  straight — just  shut  your  mouth  for  about 
forty-eight  hours." 

And  he  came  through  as  happy  a  Christian  man  as  I  know 
in  all  this  land.  But  it  was  a  hard  matter  with  him..  His 
head  was  wrong,  and  he  gave  his  tongue  in  charge  of  his 
head,  and  he  was  talking  himself  to  perdition. 

Did  you  ever  see  an  infidel  in  your  life  that  could  sit  still 
and  be  quiet  when  he  once  got  going  ?  That's  the  way  he's 
going. 

Repentance.  I  will  quit;  I  will  quit ;  I  will  cease  to  do 
evil ;  I  will  learn  to  do  good.  The  best  way  in  the  world 
to  get  religion  is  to  do  before  j^ou  get  religion  just  like  you 
think  you  will  do  after  j^ou  get  it. 

A    GEORGIA   INCIDENT. 

An  incident  of  that  sort  happened  in  Georgia.  It  is  told 
of  one  of  our  best  men.  He  was  a  married  man  ;  he  was 
young  and  he  came  to  Church  one  day,  and  his  wife  was  not 
with  him  on  that  occasion.  When  the  brother  had  preached 
the  word  he  stood  up,  and  that  preacher  had  said  in  his  ser- 
mon, "  If  a  man  will  do  before  ho  gets  religion  like  he  thinks 


306  True  Repentance. 

he  will  do  after  he  gets  it,  he  will  get  it."  When  he  was 
through  preaching,  the  preacher  opened  the  door  of  the 
church  and  this  man  walked  right  up  and  joined  the- church. 
He  went  home,  and  his  wife  said: 

"  What  sort  of  a  meeting  did  you  have  ?" 

He  said,  *^  We  had  a  splendid  meeting  and  I  joined  the 
Church.'' 

'' You  joined  the  church?'' 

"  Yes." 

^'Have  you  got  religion  ?" 

^^No." 

^' Well,  what  in  the  world  did  you  join  the  church  for  be- 
fore 5^ou  got  religion  ?" 

"  Well,"  he  said,  ^Hhe  preacher  said  if  I'd  do  before  I  got 
religion  like  I  thought  I  ought  to  do  after  I  got  religion,  to 
come  up  and  join  the  church,  and  I  joined  it." 

"  Well,"  she  said,  "  that's  a  mighty  strange  way  to  me." 

TRYING  IT  ON. 

That  night  before  going  to  bed  he  said  : 

'' Wife,  get  the  Bible;  I'm  going  to  read  a  chapter  and 
have  family  prayer." 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  that  for  and  you  ain't  got  re- 
ligion ?" 

''  Well,  the  preacher  said  if  I  wanted  to  get  religion,  to  do 
before  I  got  religion  as  I  thought  I  would  do  after  I  got  re- 
ligion, and  you  know  if  I  was  a  Christian  I'd  have  family 
prayers  in  my  house  every  night." 

And  the  next  morning  before  breakfast,  he  told  his  wife  to 
get  the  Bible,  and  that  he  was  going  to  pray  again,  and  she 
said: 

^'You  are  the  strangest  man  I  ever  saw,  to  pray  in  your 
family  when  you  have  not  got  any  religion." 

And  he  went  on  and  on  ;  and  the  next  Wednesday  night 
she  went  to  the  prayer-meeting  with  him,  and  at  the  prayer- 
meeting  the  preacher  called  on  him  to  pray,  and  he  knelt 
down  and  prayed  the  best  he  could  ;  and  after  he  got  out  of 
church  his  wife  took  his  arm,  and  she  said  : 

*'Ain't  you  a  nice  man  to  pray  in  public  and  got  no  relig- 
ion.    What  in  the  world  did  you  do  that  for,  husband  ?  " 

''Well,"  he  said,  ''the  preacher  told  me  if  I  would  do  be- 


True  Repentance.  807 

fore  I  got  religion  as  I  thought  I  ought  to  do  after  I  got  rC' 
ligion,  I  would  get  religion,  and  I  know  that  Christians  pray 
in  public." 

And  he  just  kept  right  on  on  that  line  for  three  weeks, 
and  the  biggest  case  of  religion  broke  out  on  him  of  any 
man  in  all  that  part  of  the  country. 

LIVING  RELIGIOUS   IS   BEING   RELIGIOUS. 

A  man  cannot  live  religious  without  being  religious,  and! 
a  man  cannot  be  religious  without  living  religious.  It  works 
both  ways.  It  is  just  as  certain  as  that  Pine  street  leads 
down  to  Fourth  street,  that  the  way  of  grace  will  take  a  man 
to  God;  just  as  certain  as  the  L.  and  ]^.  Eailroad  leads  from 
St.  Louis  to  Nashville;  just  as  certain,  the  plain  naked  test 
that  Grod  imposes  on  man  will  take  any  man  to  God  and 
heaven. 

I  wish  we  could  eliminate  everything  we  call  mysterious 
from  religion.  We  ministers  get  up  in  the  pulpit  and  we 
mystify  and  bamboozle  the  world  with  this  thing  that  we 
call  religion.  I  used  to  hear  the  Christian  people  get  up  and 
talk  about  the  birds  singing  sweeter,  and  the  trees  looking 
brighter,  and  everything  like  that,  after  they  got  religion.  I 
just  thought  it  was  something,  and  how  magnificent  it  was, 
until  I  read  it  in  a  book  one  day ;  and  I  have  wondered  ever 
since  if  that  old  brother  got  that  out  of  that  book. 

If  birds  sing  more  sweetly  and  trees  look  prettier  after 
a  fellow  gets  religion,  I  never  had  religion.  Birds  always 
sing  sweetly  and  trees  always  look  pretty  to  me.  There  is 
not  a  word  in  the  Book  about  birds  and  trees,  but  there  is  a 
heap  in  there  about  quitting  meanness  and  learning  to  do 
well.  This  is  repentance!  repentance  !  I  think  I  never  in 
my  experience  as  a  preacher  found  a  soul  that  was  willing  to 
give  up  sin,  give  up  >ll  sin,  and  stay  at  that  point  with  the 
white  flag  run  up,  that  God  did  not  go  to  that  soul.  I  recol- 
lect, in  my  own  experience,  I  thought  I  had  cried  a  heap, 
and  I  thought  I  had  mourned  a  heap,  and  I  went  along  mourn- 
ing and  crying,  and  I  gave  up  such  sins  that  I  thought  I  could 
get  on  best  without,  and  when  I  quit  crying  and  mourning 
and  threw  my  sins  down  in  one  bundle,  I  did  not  go  fifteen 
steps  until  I  was  conscious  God  was  my  friend  and  that  he 
was  my  Savior, 

20 


308  True  Repentance. 

«-  HOW   ZACCHEUS   DID. 

How  did  they  get  religion  when  Christ  was  on  earth?  He 
saw  Zaccheus  up  a  sycamore  tree.  I  don't  know  what  he 
was  doing  there.  But  Christ  saw  him.  Zaccheus  was  a  rich 
fellow,  and  I  expect  he  had  pretty  high  notions;  and  Christ 
said  to  him,  "Come  down,  Zaccheus;  this  day  salvation  has 
entered  your  house."  And  Zaccheus  started  down  that  tree, 
and  got  religion  somewhere  hetween  the  lowest  limb  and 
the  ground.  At  any  rate  he  had  it  before  he  hit  the  ground. 
He  said:  "What  I  have  taken  wrongfully  from  any  man  I 
will  restore  it  to  him  fourfold."  He  had  a  good  case  of  re- 
ligion in  him  when  he  hit  the  ground,  there  is  no  doubt  of 
that. 

WALKING    GODWARD. 

If  we  repent  of  our  sins,  and  if  you  quit  doing  wrong  and 
determine  upon  the  right,  Grod  will  meet  you  Bishop  Mar- 
vin said  that  repentance  was  "the  first  conscious  movement 
of  the  soul  from  sin  toward  God,"  and  he  said  that  after 
a  man  threw  down  his  sins  and  walked  off  from  them,  no 
matter  in  what  direction  he  started,  he  started  Grodward, 
and  the  further  you  walked  off  from  sin  the  closer  you  got 
to  God,  and  a  man  can  go  back  and  gather  up  his  sins  and 
start  the  other  way,  and  every  way  is  hellward  and  down- 
ward. It  is  not  so  much  the  direction  you  are  going  in,  but 
what  sort  of  a  fellow  j^ou  are  and  what  you  have  got  along 
with  you. 

Eepentance,  repentance  !  I  wish  I  could  get  you  to  see, 
my  friend,  to-night,  that  God  is  the  common  father  of  us  all, 
and  that  God  loves  the  worst  of  us  as  much  as  he  loves  the 
best  of  us.  God  only  asks  us  to  "cease  to  do  evil  and  to  learn 
to  do  well."  If  we  would  confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful 
and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins.  Well,  we  need  the  pardon. 
We  ought  to  be  pardoned;  but  we  need  something  else  be- 
sides pardon.  We  need  cleansing  from  all  unrighteousness. 
Let  me  illustrate  this : 

A   DIRE    DILEMMA. 

Yonder  is  a  man  in  jail.  He  is  sentenced  by  the  court  to 
hang  on  the  third  Friday  of  next  month.  Now  last  night  he 
broke  out  with  confluent  small-pox.  The  impending  exe- 
cution is  over  him  and  he  knows  that  the  third  Friday  of 


True  Repentance.  •  309 

next  month  he  is  going  to  be  hung,  and  last  night  he  broke 
out  with  confluent  small-pox.  !N"ow  if  the  doctor  cures  him 
he  will  be  hung.  If  the  Governor  pardons  him  he  will  die 
of  small-pox.  He  is  in  a  bad  fix,  ain't  he  ?  Can  you  imagine 
any  worse  ? 

Here  is  a  sinner.  If  God  would  pardon  me  for  all  my  past 
offences  and  leave  me  corrupt  in  hearty  I  would  just  go  on 
and  die  as  inevitably  from  spiritual  disease  as  that  poor 
criminal  will  die  of  small-pox.  Now  Avhat  do  I  want?  Lord 
God,  thou  great  Governor  of  the  universe,  give  me  pardon 
for  all  my  past  offences,  and  then  cleanse  me  from  all  un- 
righteousness, that  I  may  lead  a  better,  nobler  and  purer 
life.  The  man  who  is  simply  hardened  and  turned  loose  is 
just  like  a  swine.  You  may  take  and  wash  the  swine  from 
head  to  foot  with  Pears'  soap,  if  you  please,  and  it  won't  be 
an  hour  before  it  is  in  another  mud-hole.  And  you  can  take 
that  drunkard  out  there,  wipe  out  all  his  past  offences,  par- 
don him  for  every  drunk  he  ever  got  on,  and  just  watch  him 
stagger  to-morrow  evening.  Now  what  did  he  need  ?  He 
needed  not  only  pardoning  for  his  past  misdoing,  but  he 
wanted  God  Almighty  to  cleanse  his  heart  and  mind  so  that 
he  would  never  go  into  another  bar-room  or  take  another 
drink.  Now  hear  me;  I  am  talking  dispassionately,  and 
am  perfectly  honest  with  every  man  of  you  to-night. 

A   PRACTICAL   ILLUSTRATION. 

You  take  my  friend  sitting  on  my  right  to-night,  my  friend 
Small.  There  he  sits.  He  was  controlled  and  governed  by 
a  passion  as  remorseless  as  death.  It  swept  through  his 
soul  almost  with  the  power  of  a  cyclone.  The  day  after  his 
pardon,  the  day  after  he  felt  "  God  has  forgiven  all  my  past 
sins/'  this  thirst  for  drink  came  on  him  with  all  its  power 
and  energy,  and  he  went  to  his  room  and  dropped  on  his 
knees,  and  said,  ^'Oh,  my  God,  I  can  never  take  a  step  out 
of  my  house;  I  can  never  go  out  on  the  streets  of  this  city 
with  such  an  appetite  gnawing  within  me."  He  fought  there 
with  that  appetite  for  two  solid  hours,  and  he  said,  '^God  Al- 
mighty come  down  and  help  me  to  struggle  with  that  thirst; 
and  from  that  moment  to  this  I  have  never  had  any  desire  to 
take  another  drink."  I  believe  that  just  as  strongly  as  I  be- 
lieve that  I  am  here  to-night.  I  have  been  alonf^  there  myself.' 


310  .  True  Bepentance. 

ISTow,  I  want  to  tell  you,  this  old  race  needs  something 
else  besides  pardon  for  the  little  meannesses  it  has  already 
committed.  This  old  race  needs  cleansing,  and  God  has 
promised  that  he  will  not  only  pardon  our  past,  but  that  he 
will  cleanse  us  from  all  sin.  Is  there  any  man  here  to-night 
who  will  say,  ^'God  helping  me,  I  will  quit.  I  am  done.  I 
know  what  sin  is.  I  will  quit  it."  If  you  do  that,  brother, 
you  have  taken  the  one  step  that  brings  you  into  the  lati- 
tude where  God  can  get  hold  of  you. 

THE   PROMISE   OF    GOD. 

Now  here  is  a  naked  promise  of  God  : 
If  we  confess  our  sins  he  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us. 

And  now  let  us  put  ourselves  honestly  and  squarely  on 
this  one  promise.  The  stockmen  of  the  West,  in  order  to 
prevent  the  cattle  from  wading  into  the  pools  in  their  pas- 
tures and  making  the  water  muddy,  have  built  a  rock  wall 
about  the  pools,  and  put  a  platform  over  the  pool,  and  put  a 
trough  on  the  side  of  the  platform.  The  trough  cannot  be 
seen  from  the  outside,  and  I  expect  that  if  an  old  ox  were  to 
rear  up  and  look  over  the  platform  he  would  tell  the  others, 
*' There  is  not  a  drop  of  water  in  that  trough,  I  can  see  it 
and  there  is  not  a  drop  of  water  in  it.''  Mr.  Tyndall  got  up 
there,  and  looked  down,  and. he  said,  ^'There  is  nothing  in 
it."  But  that  old  ox,  thirsty  for  water,  walks  around  the 
wall  and  on  to  that  platform,  and  the  pressure  of  his  weight 
on  the  platform  forces  the  water,  sparkling  and  gurgling, 
up  into  the  trough,  and  he  drinks  and  is  never  dr}^  Brother, 
this  naked  promise  of  God  is  right  over  the  pools  of  the 
water  of  life,  and  these  scientific  gentlemen  have  somehow 
seen  down  into  the  trough  and  said,  ''  There  is  not  a  drop  of 
water  in  it."  They  are  right  about  that;  but  let  the  poor 
sinner  walk  out  on  the  platform,  and  his  weight  will  force 
the  water  of  life  into  the  trough,  and  he  drinks  and  rejoices 
in  the  fact  that  religion  is  true. 

HOW   TO    TEST   RELIGION. 

There  ain't  but  one  way  of  testing,  and  that  is  like  a  little 
fellow  whose  father  said  to  him  :  ^'  Son,  how  does  candy 
taste?"  And  the  little  fellow  stuck  the  candy  he  was  eating 
up  to  his  father's  mouth  and  replied,  "Father,  taste  for  your- 
self." And  hence  the  good  book  says : 
Taste  and  see  that  the  Lord  is  good. 


True  Repentance.  811 

If  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is  ftiithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins. 
HOW  TO    GET  RELIGION. 

My  little  Bob,  when  he  was  five  years  old,  had  more  relig- 
ious sense  than  I  had  when  I  was  twenty-four.  I  went  home 
one  da}^,  one  Monday,  and  when  I  went  into  the  house  I 
said,  "  Wife,  where  are  the  children  V  She  said,  ''  Brother 
George  Smith  is  preaching  to  the  children,  and  our  little 
fellow  was  much  interested  and  had  to  go."  And  we  sat 
down  and  talked  awhile,  and  directly  little  Bob  came  run- 
ning in.  I  took  him  on  my  lap,  and  his  mother  talked  to 
him.     She  said  : 

^'Eobert,  what  sort  of  a  meeting  did  you  have  V 

He  said  :  "  We  had  a  good  meeting.'' 

''  What  did  you  do  ?" 

He  said  :  ''Mr.  Smith  preached  a  good  sermon  and  asked 
us  to  go  to  the  altar.'' 

"Did  you  go,  Bob?" 

*'Yes,  ma'am." 

''  What  did  you  go  for?" 

*'I  wanted  to  have  my  sins  forgiven." 

*'  Did  you  get  them  forgiven  ?" 

''  Yes,  ma'am." 

''  How  do  you  know  ?" 

"Mr.  Smith  said  if  we  would  come  up  and  ask  the  Lord  to 
do  it  he  would  do  it." 

"  Bob,  are  you  going  to  sin  any  more  ?"  said  his  mother. 

"  Yes'm,  I  expect  I  will." 

"  What  will  you  do  then  ?" 

"  I  will  wait  until  Mr.  Smith  comes  round  again  and  go  up 
again." 

And  the  little  fellow  had  the  whole  thing  as  clearly  in 
his  mind  as  ever  any  man  had. 

"I  went  up  to  confess  my  sins." 

"Were  you  forgiven  ?" 

"  Yes." 

"  How  do  you  know  ?" 

"Because  Grod  says  if  a  man  will  confess  he  will  forgive 
him." 

And  that  is  where  God  brought  us  when  he  said : 

Except  ye  be  converted  and  become  as  little  children  ye  shall  not  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 


312  True  Repentance. 

If  we  confess  our  sins,  ho  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins  and  to 
cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness. 

I  wish  this  world  could  see  that  all  a  man  need  do  is  to  re- 
pent of  his  sins  and  call  on  Grod,  and  he  is  a  pardoned  man 
right  then  and  there. 

THE  LAST  STORY  FOR  THE  NIGHT. 

Now  this  incident  and  I  will  quit.  When  I  was  pastor  a 
few  years  ago  of  a  circuit  in  Georgia,  I  had  some  fifth  Sun- 
day appointment.  I  preached  there  the  fifth  Saturday  and 
Sunday.  And  the  fifth  Sunday  of  March  I  went  over  there 
and  preached  two  days.  On  the  Saturday  I  went  home  with 
a  gentleman  named  Gaither,  notamember  of  the  church.  He 
was  a  well-to-do  man,  and  a  graduate  of  Emory  College.  I 
talked  with  him  and  said  : 

"Mr.  Gaither,  you  are  not  a  member  of  the  church?'' 

"No,  sir,''  he  said. 

"Well,"  said  I,  "I  want  you  to  join  the  church  to-mor- 
row." 

"Why,"  he  says,  "Mr.  Jones,  I  cannot  join  the  church.  I 
curse  sometimes,  and  I  drink  a  little." 

"  That  is  the  reason  I  want  you  to  join." 

"Jones,  you  don't  mean  to  say  that  you  want  a  man  that 
will  curse  and  drink  to  join  the  Church." 

"  No,  but  you  are  a  man  of  honor  and  integrity,  and  if  you 
were  to  promise  God  you  would  quit  that  sort  of  thing,  you 
would  quit  it." 

But  he  had  made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  not  join  the 
Church  until  he  got  religion.  Many  a  fellow  has  said  that  he 
would  not  know  what  religion  was  if  he  met  it  in  the  road. 
He  would  ask  the  first  fellow  he  met  afterward,  "What  was 
that?"  Oh,  me,  if  a  man  did  not  have  more  common  sense 
than  he  has  religious  sense  he  would  die  in  the  asylum.  Good 
sense  on  everything  else  in  the  world,  but  when  it  comes  to 
religion  the  biggest  lawyer  and  the  blackest  and  most  ig- 
norant darkey  stand  on  the  same  platform. 

TWO  APPARENTLY  HARD  CASES. 

When  we  arrived  at  his  house,  directly  his  wife  came  out 
and  I  said,  "I  have  been  trying  to  get  your  husband  to  join 
the  Church,  and  I  want  you  to  join." 


True  Bepentance,  813 

"I  can  never  commit  the  sin  of  joining  the  Church  until  I 
get  religion/'  she  said. 

I  had  a  long  conversation  with  them  on  the  subject,  and  I 
thought  I  had  struck  about  two  of  the  hardest  cases  I  had 
ever  encountered.  I  went  and  preached  the  next  day  at  eleven 
o'clock,  and  on  the  conclusion  of  the  sermon  that  man  and 
his  wife  and  eight  or  ten  others  walked  right  up  and  joined 
the  Church.  That  was  the  fifth  Sunday  in  March.  On  the 
fifth  Sunday  in  July  I  was  back  there  preaching  three  days. 
On  Saturday  night  my  wife  was  with  me,  and  she  and  the 
wife  of  Mr.  Gaither  went  round  in  the  carriage  and  he  and 
I  walked  through  the  fields.  We  were  walking  along,  talk- 
ing, and  the  moon  was  shining  brightly,  and  I  said : 

^'Brother  Gaither,  Old  Watt  is  doing  his  whole  duty'' — 
that  was  Gaither's  l3rother-in-law  who  had  also  joined  the 
church." 

*'Yes,"  was  the  reply. 

'^He  can't  be  religious  unless  he  is  doing  his  whole  duty," 
I  said. 

*^Can  any  man?"  he  asked. 

^'Old  Watt  cannot  appear  to  be  religious  unless  he  does 
his  whole  duty."  I  said.  <'01d  Watt  was  a  drinking,  gam- 
bling bad  fellow,  when  became  into  the  Church,  but  he  came 
all  over  and  taught  Sunday-school,  worked  as  class  leader 
and  became  Sunday-school  Superintendent,  doing  his  whole 
duty  and  loving  religion. 

A    GLORIOUS    MOMENT. 

Mr.  Gaither  said:  ''Yes.  Now,  what  is  there  in  appear- 
ances? I  have  been  in  the  Church  three  months  and  I  have 
no  more  religion  than  that  horse  pulling  our  wives  to 
Church."  He  said;  "I  have  not  cursed  any  or  drank  any 
since  I  joined  the  Church  ;  but  I  am  tired  of  being  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Church  without  religion."  He  said:  "If  you 
want  me  to  pray  to-night  I  will  do  my  best.  If  you  want 
me  to  teach  Sunday-school  I'll  do  it.  I  am  going  to  pray 
night  and  morning  until  I  get  religion.  I  am  going  to  do  it. 
I  want  to  do  my  whole  duty  until  I  get  religion;"  and,  sud- 
denly shouting,  he  said:  "Glory  be  to  God,  I  have  got  it 
right  here." 

That  is  the  secret  of  the  whole  thing,  brother.     That  is 


314  True  Repentance. 

the  secret  of  the  whole  thing.  Oh,  that  I  could  just  get  men 
to  see  how  merciful  G-od  is  to  the  man  that  wants  to  do  the 
clean  thing. 

THE  LAST  APPEAL. 

Now,  my  brother,  my  friend,  God  loves  you,  and  all  God 
asks  of  any  man  is  that  you 
Cease  to  do  evil  and  learn  to  do  well. 

And  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  him  who  loved  you  and 
gave  his  life  for  you,  and  died  for  you.  That's  it.  And 
there  is  no  mystery  about  it.  There  is  no  mystery  about  it. 
When  an  army  official  advertises  the  conditions  on  which  ho 
will  receive  a  regular  soldier  into  the  army,  there  is  no 
more  mystery  about  those  conditions  than  when  God  adver- 
tises to  the  world  how  he  will  receive  men  and  women  into 
his  kingdom  on  earth  and  into  his  kingdom  in  heaven. 
And  turn  your  minds  and  thoughts  away  from  the  mys- 
teries connected  with  religion,  and  just  take  hold  of  the 
plain,  practical  facts  of  Christianity,  and  say:  ^'I  know 
right's  right,  and  I  will  do  it;  and  I  know  wrong  is  wrong, 
and  I  will  quit  it."  Turn  your  life  to  God,  and  he  will 
have  mercy  on  you  and  pardon  you.  Will  you  do  it? 
God  help  every  man  not  in  sympathy  with  God  to-night 
to  say:  ''  Whatever  others  may  do,  as  for  me  I  am  going  from 
this  day  to  trust  to  my  Maker  to  guide  me  in  the  way  of 
everlasting  life  and  peace." 

A   CALL   TO    PENITENTS. 

I  am  going  to  pronounce  the  benediction  in  a  moment, 
and  if  any  men  here  to-night — and  I  never  was  more  serious 
in  any  talk  I  have  made  in  my  life — want  to  be  good  men 
and  turn  away  from  your  sins  and  be  a  Christian,  will  you 
stay  here  after  the  service  a  few  minutes  and  let  the  world 
see,  and  let  the  world  know,  that  '^here  is  one  man  willing 
to  forsake  his  sin  and  come  to  God?"  Will  you  do  that? 
No  more  serious  proposition  was  ever  made  to  you,  and 
God's  own  word  shows  us  that 

If  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins  and  to 
cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness. 

My  brethren  and  friends,  in  all  love  and  kindness  I  say, 
*'  Will  you  stay  Avith  us  in  the  after  service  to-night,  and 


True  Bepentance,  315 

some  of  you  Christian  men  and  women  stay  and  let  us  talk 
over  these  immortal  things  V 

'Tis  religion  that  can  give 
Sweetest  pleasures  while  we  live* 
*Tis  religion  must  supply- 
Solid  comfort  when  we  die. 

God  help  you  to-night  to  surrender  to  God,  and  throw 
down  your  wrongs,  and  do  the  right  from  this  day  until  you 
die. 


^EF(MON  XYIII. 

7hE    pUTY    Of    ■VV/TCHFUJ.J^Egg. 


But  watch  thou  in  all  things,  endure  afflictions,  do  the  work  of  an  evan- 
gelist, make  full  proof  of  thy  ministry. — 2d  Timothy,  4  ;  5. 

MOW,  brethren  and  friends,  let  ns  by  praj^er  and  faith 
make  this  truly  a  spiritual  service.  I  saw  this  morning, 
in  prayer  and  faith,  looking  to  God,  a  bright  streak  in  the 
moral  heavens,  and  the  sun  had  almost  risen  upon  us.  I  have 
never  preached  more  honestly  and  faithfully  anywhere  than 
I  have  here.  This  is  the  hardest  rock  into  which  I  have 
ever  put  my  drill  as  a  preacher.  But,  thank  God,  at  each  tap 
of  the  hammer  the  drill  has  gone  down  a  little,  and  if  you, 
as  Christian  people,  will  put  the  pressure  on  the  drill  until 
we  get  to  where  God  shall  put  in  the  blast  for  us,  you  will 
see  such  a  moral  upheaval  as  you  have  never  seen  in  this 
city.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  one  victory  will  help  us  to 
win  some  other,  but  I  never  won  anywhere,  in  the  gospel 
sense,  until  I  was  defeated.  God  will  not  glorify  any  man 
or  suffer  a  man  to  glorify  himself,  or  suffer  anything  else  to 
glorify  a  man.     It  is  all  of  God. 

AN   AFTERNOON   INCIDENT. 

Some  faithful  preachers  in  the  service  this  afternoon,  have 
been  spending  sleepless  hours  over  the  fallen,  backslidden 
state  of  a  great  many  members  of  the  church  and  the  godless 
stateof  the  city.  They  have  been  praying  every  daj^.  This 
afternoon  these  preachers  went  to  Dr.  Brookes'  home  and 
said,  "Doctor,  Sunday  night,  with  all  the  force  we  have,  we 
want  to  unite  at  your  church  and  carry  this  work  on."  Dr. 
Brookes  looked  in  the  face  of  the  brethren.  Said  he,  "  God 
sent  you  here,  and,"  said  he,  "  all  the  power  of  my  head  and 
heart  and  all  shall  be  "Vith  you."  God  has  people  here. 
There  are  seven  thousand,  or  may  be  ten  thousand,  or  may 
be  twenty  thousand  in  this  city  that  have  not  bowed  the 
knee  to  Baal.    I  tell  you,  brethren,  one  of  these  can  chase  a 


The  Duty  of  Watchfulness,  317 

thousand  and  two  can  put  ten  thousand  to  flight.  God  bless 
the  grand  old  Presbyterian  Church  of  this  city.  God  bless 
the  Baptist  Church  of  this  cit}^  God  bless  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  of  this  city.  God  bless  every  church  that 
bears  the  name  of  Christ,  and  bring  us  with  one  accord 
together  in  our  movements  against  the  sins  and  wicked- 
ness of  this  city.  And  I  tell  you,  when  you  unite  every 
Christian  heart  and  every  Christian  hand  and  every  Chris- 
tian mouth  in  this  city  all  to  work  against  the  world,  the 
flesh  and  the  devil,  you  have  got  a  big  job  then.  You  have 
got  a  big  job  on  your  hands  then. 

A   CALL  FOR   MORE   FAITH. 

INow,  brethren,  let  your  faith  be  inspired,  and  let  us  look 
up  to  God,  and  let  us  pray  to  God  Almighty  to  carry  on  this 
work.  One  of  the  preachers  got  up  this  afternoon,  and  said  : 
^'Brethren,  this  work  will  not  fail.  It  cannot  fail,  and  I  tell 
you  what,  as  Christian  people  and  as  members  of  the  Church, 
it  won't  do  now  for  us  to  fail.  Failure  now  will  imperil  things 
here.  We  can't  afford  it.  This  town  is  waked  up.  I  have 
been  on  'Change,  I  have  been  on  the  street,  and  they  are  talk- 
ing it  from  one  side  to  the  other."  And  one  gentleman  said 
to  me  this  afternoon,  "I  heard  their  conversation,  talk- 
ing it  on  the  street  cars  and  everywhere,  and  we  took  a  street 
car,  and,  sure  enough,  the  conversation  turned  on  this  sub- 
ject, the  subject  of  the  meeting."  Well,  God  is  in  the  move- 
ment. And  if  God  is  in  the  movement,  and  the  forces  itre 
wisely  directed,  you'll  see  such  a  moral  upheaval  in  this  city 
as  will  put  religion  on  top,  and  that  is  what  we  want.  God 
knows  we  have  been  kicked  and  cuffed  about  long  enough. 
God  knows  that  we  have  been  at  the  bottom  a  long  time. 
God  knows  we  ought  to  get  up  and  shake  the  dust  off  of  our- 
selves and  be  somebody  in  this  universe.     It  looks  that  way. 

Watch  thou  in  all  things,  endure  afflictions,  do  the  work  of  an  evan- 
gelist, make  full  proof  of  your  ministry, — 

And  then  he  said  : 

For  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand, 
I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  ray  course,  I  have  kept  the 

faith. 

Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the 

Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day,  and  not  to  me  only,  but 

uiito  all  them  that  love  his  appearing. 


318  The  Duty  of  Watchfulness. 

!N"ow,  in  the  verse,  the  text  which  we  read,  St.  Paul  said 
four  things  to  Timothy ;  and  these  words  we  might  denom- 
inate the  dying  words  of  St.  Paul — the  last  words  of  one  of 
the  greatest  men  God  ever  made.  And  these  words  were 
said  to  Timothy,  his  own  son  in  the  gospel.  I  have  been 
frequently  touched  by  reading  the  words  of  St.  Paul  to  Tim- 
othy. I  have  seen  the  fatherly  interest  and  the  tender, 
watchful  care  that  St.  Paul  bestowed  upon  Timothy,  his  own 
son  in  the  gospel;  and  now  that  they  have  had  their  last 
conversation,  as  they  have  preached  and  labored  and  ate 
and  walked  and  talked  together  for  the  last  time  ;  and  as  all 
earthly  association  and  communication  is  cut  off  forever,  as 
St.  Paul  is  about  to  pass  to  his  reward,  he  says  he  has  some- 
thing to  say  to  Timothy. 

THE  VALUE  OF  LAST  WORDS. 

How  the  last  words  of  a  dying  neighbor  impress  us,  and 
how  the  last  words  of  a  good  father  fasten  themselves  upon 
us  !  How  the  last  words  of  a  good  mother  are  cherished  by 
us  !  We  can  forget  a  thousand  things  father  said  while  he 
lived,  but  we  can  never  forget  the  last  words  of  a  good  fath- 
er. We  forget  a  thousand  things  that  mother  said  in  life  and 
health,  but  the  last  words  of  a  precious  mother  linger  with 
us  like  the  memory  of  a  precious  dream.  The  last  words  of 
Paul  to  Timothy,  and  through  Timothy  to  us  !  And  oh  !  how 
much  St.  Paul  compassed  in  these  three  lines.  The  first  thing 
he*said  to  Timothy  was  this  : 
Watch  thou  in  all  things. 

If  there  ever  was  a  day  in  the  world's  history  when  the 
people  of  Grod  ought  to  be  vigilant  and  watchful,  it  is  now. 
This  watchful  spirit  is  the  sentinel  of  the  soul — the  sentinel 
on  the  outpost.  I  am  commanded  to  be  vigilant,  to  be  watch- 
ful, because  my  adversary,  the  devil,  is  going  about  like  a 
roaring  lion  seeking  whom  he  may  devour.  I  am  com- 
manded to  be  vigilant  and  to  be  watchful  because  I  wrestle 
not  simply  with  flesh  and  blood,  but  with  powers  and  princi- 
palities and  spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places. 
Watch  thou  in  all  things. 

Gen.  Washington  said,  whenever  danger  was  imminent 
and  the  enemy  was  near  by:  ''Put  no  one  but  Americans  on 
the  outposts  to-night."     And  now  while  enemies  surround 


The  Duty  of  Watchfulness.  819 

us  on  all  sides  and  press  upon  ns  in  every  direction,  is  it  not 
best  that  we  put  none  but  the  most  vigilant  souls  upon  the 
watch-tower,  and  that  we  put  the  most  faithful  sentinels  that 
belong  to  our  own  souls  on  the  outposts. 

BE  vigilant! 
Watch  thou  in  all  things. 

It  was  death  for  a  sentinel  to  sleep  at  his  post.  Do  you 
wonder  why  they  were  so  severe  on  poor  fellows?  I'll  tell 
you  why.  The  safety,  the  peace,  the  life  of  sixty  thousand 
men  is  in  the  hands  of  that  sentinel  out  there  on  the  out- 
post, and  for  him  to  go  to  sleep  means  to  have  the  enemy 
charge  upon  a  camp  of  sleeping  soldiers  and  butcher  them 
in  their  bunks.  No  wonder  the  General  says  to  his  senti- 
nel, ''It  is  death  to  go  to  sleep  on  the  outpost  there. '^  And 
I  tell  you  another  thing:  the  way  Grod  talks  to  us,  it  is 
mighty  near  death  to  jom  and  death  to  me  if  we  shall  ever 
forget  to  obey  the  text  and  fail  to  be  watchful. 

Another  scriptural  term  for  this  same  expression  or 
thought  is  this: 

Wallc  circumspectly. 

l^ow,  that  word  '^circumspectly,''  is  a  Latin  derived  word, 
a  compound  word.  It  means  ^'walk,  looking  around  you." 
The  Indian  walking  in  the  primal  forests  of  this  country,  in- 
habited by  all  kinds  of  wild  beasts  and  reptiles,  walked  with 
perfect  safety,  because  he  walked  circumspectly.  The  In- 
dian bade  his  squaw  and  his  children  good-by  in  the  morn- 
ing and  went  into  the  wild  forests,  inhabited  by  wild  beasts 
and  reptiles,  and  they  did  not  think  of  his  safety.  They 
knew  that  if  the  enemy  approached  him  from  the  right,  he 
saw  him.  If  the  enemy  came  from  the  front,  he  saw  him. 
To  the  left,  he  saw  him.  If  he  approached  from  the  rear, 
his  keen  sense  of  hearing  and  seeing  detected  it.  If  it  was  a 
wild  beast  crouched  on  a  limb  above  his  pathway,  he  saw 
him.  If  it  was  a  hissing  serpent  underneath  on  his  path- 
way, he  saw  him.  And  the  Indian  walked  in  perfect  safety, 
because  he  walked  circumspectly. 

HOW   TO   WALK   CIRCUMSPECTLY. 

Circumspectly  !  A  man  walking  along  and  looking  ahead 
of  him  is  not  walking  circumspectly.  A  man  who  just 
looks  to  the  right  and  looks  ahead  is  not  walking  circum- 


320  The  Duty  of  Watchfulness. 

spectly.  If  a  man  looks  on  both  sides  and  to  the  front  he  is 
not  walking  circumspectly.  If  a  man  looks  to  the  rear  and 
in  front  and  on  both  sides  he  is  not  walking  circumspectly. 
If  a  man  looks  above  him  and  in  front  and  on  both  sides  and 
to  the  rear,  he  is  not  walking  circumspectly.  But  if  he  looks 
above  and  beneath  and  in  front  and  to  the  right  and  to  the 
left  and  in  the  rear,  and  in  walking  looks  around  all  ways, 
then  he  is  walking  circumspectly. 

I  know  not  from  what  direction  the  enemy  may  attack.  I 
know  not  whether  it  shall  be  from  the  left  or  from  the  right, 
from  the  front  or  from  rear.  I  know  not  what  sort  of  enemy 
it  may  be,  and  I  know  not  the  direction  he  may  come  upon 
me;  and  so  I  shall  obey  the  scripture  and  walk  circumspect- 
ly, looking  around  both  ways. 

Both  ways  !  Walking  circumspectly!  Well,  I  must  not 
only  walk  looking  all  around  me  both  ways  and  looking 
outward,  but  I  must  look  within,  look  at  myself.  Spurgeon 
said,  all  our  enemies  are  comprehended  under  three  heads: 
the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil.  *'The  devil  is  a  cunning 
old  enemy.  Oh,  how  cunning  !  But,  by  the  grace  of  God,  I 
can  conquer  the  devil.  This  old  world  is  a  multitudinous 
affair  with  ten  thousand  things  to  attract  and  seduce  me,  but, 
by  the  grace  of  God,  I  can  conquer  the  world.  But/'  he 
said,  ''Good  Lord,  deliver  me  from  myself." 

MIS-LOCATING   THE   DEVIL. 

Nine-tenths  of  your  trouble  and  my  trouble  is  not  on  the 
outside  at  all.  It  is  inside.  There  is  where  your  trouble  is. 
As  I  heard  a  brother  say  to-day:  You  can  go  out  in  the 
world  as  much  as  you  please,  but  you  had  better  mind  how 
you  get  the  world  into  you.  Sometimes  we  mis-locate  things, 
like  the  good  old  brother  that  called  on  Bishop  Whiteman. 
Down  in  Mobile,  Ala.,  the  Bishop  had  been  holding  Confer- 
ence, and  a  good  old  brother  came  up  to  him  in  his  room  one 
day  and  said  to  the  Bishop  : 

''I  haven't  been  to  my  church  in  two  years.*  I  haven't 
been  out  at  all  in  that  time." 

"Well,"  said  the  Bishop,  "why  is  that,  brother?  " 

"Why,"  said  he,  "they  have  got  the  devil  right  behind  the 
pulpit." 

"What?  Got  the  devil  right  behind  the  pulpit?" 


The  Duty  of  Watchfulness.  32  \ 

"Yes/'  he  says,  "they  have.     Just  as  soon  as  I  walk  into 
the  church,  the  first  thing  I  see  is  the  devil  right  behind  the, 
pulpit." 

''Why,  brother,"  said  the  Bishop,  "what  in  the  world  do 
you  mean  V 

"Why,  it's  the  organ  they've  got  in  there." 

"Well,"  said  Bishop  Whiteman,  in  his  polite  way,  "  I  ex- 
pect when  you  go  into  the  church,  the  devil  is  in  there  sure 
enough,  but  you  don't  locate  him  right.  He's  not  in  there 
right  behind  the  pulpit,  but  he's  in  you.  He's  in  you. 
You've  mis-located  things.     There's  the  trouble." 

CHRISTIAN   WISDOM. 

I  heard  a  good  old  brother  say  once  that  when  a  man  got 
mad  with  him,  he  always  spoke  kind  words  and  said  kind 
things.  "  Why,"  said  he,  "  when  a  man  wants  to  raise  a  dif- 
ficulty with  me  and  talks  bad  to  me,  if  I  get  mad,  the  devil 
will  come  out  of  that  fellow  into  me,  and  he'll  divide  devils 
with  me.  He's  got  enough  for  both."  And  the  trouble  with 
humanity  is  that  they  don't  locate  things  right.  And  Avith- 
out  locating  your  enemy,  you  can  never  fight  him  success- 
fully. That's  the  truth.  The  wisest  genoral  in  this  whole 
war  was  the  general,  that  knew  not  so  much  how  his  troops 
were  arranged,  but  who  arranged  his  troops  by  the  arrange- 
ment of  his  enemy's  troops,  so  that  his  strongest  point  was 
just  opposite  the  strongest  point  of  his  enemy.  And  the 
Christian  man,  who  is  best  equipped  to  fight  the  devil,  is  the 
Christian  man  who  not  only  knows  the  strength  of  the 
devil,  but  knows  exactly  where  he  is  located  and  all  about 
him. 

Watch  !  Your  trouble,  if  located,  is  within  and  not  with- 
out you.  I  would  rather  fight  a  thousand  enemies  outside  of 
the  fort  than  to  fight  one  enemy  inside  of  the  fort.  There 
are  more  dangers  on  the  inside.  And  now  let  us  see  what 
we  have  inside  to  betray  us. 

Well,  let's  see!  Is  there  anybody  here  troubled  with  a 
spirit  of  neglect?  That  is  a  fearful  enemy  on  the  inside — 
the  spirit  of  neglect.  I  don't  care  what  else  you  have  or 
don't  have — if  you  have  got  that  you  are  bankrupted.  As  I 
said  once  before,  you  may  take  the  best  man  in  St.  Louis,  he 
may  be  everything  you  want  him  to  be,  but  you  just  let  him 


822  The  Duty  of  Watchfulness, 

neglect  to  pay  his  debts,  and  there  isn't  anybody  in  this 
town  will  have  any  respect  for  him.  Ain't  that  true?  And 
we  must  reach  the  point  where  we  see  that  the  strength  of 
the  Christian  is  in  the  earnest,  persistent  discharge  of  every 
duty  that  God  enjoins  upon  him. 

THE   FOLLY   OF   NEGLECT. 

Neglect!  Neglect  to  pray;  neglect  to  read  my  Bible; 
neglect  to  walk  uprightly  before  God;  neglect  any  Chris- 
tian duty — the  man  who  does  it,  does  it  at  the  cost  of  his 
soul.  The  spirit  of  neglect!  Now  if  you  take  a  man  who 
has  prayed  night  and  morning  in  his  family,  just  get  him  to 
leaving  it  off  at  night,  say,  for  instance,  or  leaving  it  off  in 
the  morning,  for  instance;  and  just  let  him  neglect  it  a 
time  or  two,  and  you  know  that  the  next  thing  that  has  hap- 
pened is  that  he  has  quit  it  altogether.  Just  let  a  fellow 
neglect  his  prayer-meeting  two  or  three  times,  and  he  gets 
so  he  wonH  want  to  go  at  all.  Just  let  a  man  neglect  to  read 
his  Bible  for  a  few  days,  and  he^l  get  so  he  won't  want  to 
look  towards  his  Bible  at  all.  Oh,  the  spirit  of  neglect !  It 
has  cost  millions  of  souls  ! 

Neglect!  And  every  time  Christ  prefigured  judgment,  the 
fellow  that  was  condemned,  was  condemned  for  neglect — ev- 
ery one  of  them — and  in  no  instance  were  they  condemned 
for  what  they  had  done,  but  condemned  for  what  they  had 
not  done. 

Neglect!  You  let  a  man  begin  to  neglect  his  business — 
it  goes  right  down.  Let  a  man  begin  to  neglect  his  religion 
— it  goes  right  down.  Let  the  member  of  a  church  begin  to 
neglect  prayer-meeting — it  goes  right  down  to  zero.  Let  the 
member  of  the  church  begin  to  neglect  to  pay  the  preacher, 
and  the  first  thing  you  know  he's  a  pauper.  DonH  you  see 
how  the  thing  goes? 

And  I  tell  you  all,  in  every  part  and  department  of  religi- 
ous life,  aggressiveness  and  fidelity  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
we  do  not  leave  any  gaps  open  but  close  them  all  up. 

THE    TROUBLESOME    TONGUE. 

Neglect!  "Well,  then,  I  will  watch  not  only  the  spirit  of 
neglect  that  might  take  possession  of  me,  but  I  will  watch 
my  tongue.  Oh,  me!  these  tongues  of  ours  give  us  more 
trouble  than  anything  and  everything  else  in  the  world  !  It 


The  Duty  of  Watchfulness. 


323 


ain't  what  we  do,  but  it's  what  we  say  that  keeps  us  in  troub- 
le every  time.  I  will  watch  my  tongue.  >  I  declare,  some- 
times I  wish  I  hadn't  any  tongue. 

Neglect!  And  watch  my  tongue.     Watch  my  tongue.     Oh, 
me !  if  we  just  had  some  way  of  recalling  every  word  we  had  ut- 


"The  dog  runs  out  in  the  street  hefore  he  knows  it." 

tered,  like  a  President  can  recall  some  Minister  or  some  Con- 
sul that  he  had  sent  off  somewhere — oh,  what  a  grand  thing 
that  would  be!  Brethren,  I'd  spend  the  next  ten  j^ears  in  recall- 
ing— I  think  I  would — I'd  be  busy  at  it,  I'd  be  busy ;  but 
the  only  way  I  can  do  now  is  to  watch  my  tongue  ;  and  I  de- 
clare to  you,  if  a  man  opens  the  door  the  dog  runs  out  in  the 
street  before  he  knows  it.  It  is  astonishing  how  many  things 
will  come  up,  and  come  when  he  least  expects  it,  from  this 
tongue. 

THD   IDEA   or   TEMPER. 

I  will  watch  my  tongue.  I  will  watch  my  temper.  The 
noun  "temper"  is  not  in  the  Bible  at  all.  The  verb  "to 
temper"  is  in  the  Bible.  Do  you  know  where  we  get  that 
idea  of  the  word  "temper?"  A¥e  get  it  from  the  blacksmith's 

21 


324  The  Duty  of  Watchfulness, 

shop,  where  the  blacksmith,  for  instance,  is  shaping  an 
ax  and  upsetting  the  blade  of  it;  he  beats  the  blade  again 
and  pushes  it  down  into  the  water,  and,  taking  it  out,  he 
watches  it  take  its  color;  and  again  he  pushes  it  into  the 
water  and  takes  it  out  and  watches  it  take  its  color,  and  then 
directly  he  passes  it  to  the  hand  of  the  farmer  and  says :  "  I 
think  that  is  tempered,  but  I  don't  know.  If  you  will  grind 
it  and  take  it  out  to  that  knotty  pine  log  and  throw  it  in  a 
time  or  two,  I  will  be  able  to  tell  you  whether  it  is  temper- 
ed or  not."  And  he  takes  up  the  ax,  and  he  goes  out  to  the 
knotty  pine  log  and  he  strikes  it  a  time  or  two,  and  it  is  full 
of  notches  and  the  edge  all  turned  and  gone.  He  takes  it 
back  to  the  blacksmith  and  says,  "You  missed  it  this  time; 
look  here,  it  is  notched  all  over  with  gaps."  And  the  black- 
smith takes  it  again  and  puts  it  in  the  fire  and  tests  it,  and 
when  he  takes  it  out  there  to  the  knotty  pine  log,  its  edge 
is  all  right,  and  he  says,  "  This  edge  stands  perfect."  That 
is  where  we  get  what  we  call  our  idea  of  temper. 

CHRISTIAN   TEMPER    VS.    GOOD   NATURE. 

Many  a  time  we  have  had  our  tempers,  our  dispositions  in 
the  shop,  and  we  have  upset  them  and  we  have  tempered 
them  ;  and  now  we  say,  "  Well,  now,  I  never  will  get  that 
way  any  more ;  I  have  got  the  edge  all  right  this  time  ;  I  got 
it  tempered  up  in  every  respect;"  and  the  first  old  knotty 
log  we  get  to,  away  it  goes,  and  the  notches  are  all  broke 
out  and  the  edge  is  turned  oif,  and  we  say, "  Law,  me,  its  no 
use  of  my  trying  at  all !  I  did  worse  this  time  than  I  ever  did 
before."  Haven't  you  ever  felt  that  ?  Oh,  this  temper  of 
ours.  A  good  temperwill  stand  anything  withoutthe  break- 
ing out  of  a  gap  or  the  turning  of  the  edge.  Good  temper! 
Good  temper  ! 

There  is  a  heap  of  difference  between  good  nature  and 
good  temper.  I  have  heard  people  say,  "  Oh,  that  person 
has  less  temper  than  anybody  I  ever  saw."  Well,  they  are 
less  account  that  any  body  you  ever  saw,  if  you  mean  by 
that  they  are  simply  good-natured.  I  tell  you  it  takes  some- 
body with  an  immense  temper;  but  when  that  temper  is 
rightly  tempered,  then  it  is  you've  got  the  finest  character 
this  world  ever  saw. 

A   LOVELY  TEMPERED    GIRL. 

I  heard  a  lady  say  about  a  cook  once,  ''  That  is  the  best 


The  Duty  of  Watchfulness,  325 

natured,  kindest,  cleverest,  best  girl  in  this  world,  and  the 
only  thing  I  have  against  her  is  she  is  of  no  account  in  the 
world.  That's  the  only  thing  she  had  against  her :  *'  She  is  of 
no  account  in  the  world/' 

I  like  temper,  but  I  want  it  to  be  on  the  edge  right,  and 
I  want  to  be  sure  that  that  temper  is  managed  right;  and  we 
can  only  have  good  tempers  with  vigilant,  watchful  care 
over  them.  The  best  way  I  ever  managed  my  temper  was 
to  clinch  my  teeth  together  and  not  let  my  tongue  run  a  bit. 
My  tongue  was  a  sort  of  a  revolving  fan  to  the  fire;  and  the 
first  time  you  let  your  tongue  go  you  are  gone.  Did  you 
ever  try  to  clinch  your  teeth  this  way  together,  and  try  to 
keep  a  padlock  on  your  tongue  when  you  felt  like  you  were 
going  to  get  mad  ?  Did  you  ever  try  to  sit  down  on  your 
tongue  once  ? 

If  you'll  do  it  you  will  be  astonished. 

I  will  watch  my  temper,  I  will  watch  my  tongue,  I  will 
watch  my  disposition,  I  will  watch  within,  I  will  watch 
without,  I  will  be  vigilant,  I  won't  be  surprised  by  any- 
thing. I  am  going  to  see  my  enemy  approach,  I  am  going 
to  watch  him  as  he  comes,  and  I  am  going  to  meet  him  as  he 
comes. 

A  PERSONAL  FRACAS. 

I  thought  after  I  was  converted  and  went  to  preaching, 
that  it  was  a  man's  duty  to  defend  himself,  and  a  maii  has  to 
get  mad  always  to  do  that;  and  I  recollect  a  time  or  two 
when  I  got  what  I  thought  to  be  an  insult,  and  there  was  a 
personal  fracas.  Well,  the  last  one  I  had  I  got  into  the  fuss 
all  over,  and  it  seemed  like  the  Lord  had  about  turned  me 
loose  for  good;  aud  I  just  said  :  "  Good  Lord,  if  you  takeme 
back  I  tell  you  what  I'll  do.  I  will  never  get  mad  with  any 
man  on  the  face  of  the  earth  until  they  treat  me  worse  than  I 
have  treated  you."  Well,  sir,  I  have  been  now  at  it  eleven 
years  since  I  had  the  difficulty,  and  I  never  found  a  man  yet 
that  treated  me  worse  than  I  treated  the  Lord,  and  until  I 
do  I  am  going  to  stay  in  a  good  humor  with  humanity. 
That  is  my  doctrine. 

A  fellow  will  tell  you,  '^If  a  fellow  was  to  treat  you  like 
so-and-so  treated  me  you  would  get  mad."  "  How  did  they 
treat  you,  anyhow  ?  What  did  a  person  ever  do  to  you  that 
you  didn't  do  to  God  ?     If  they  told  falsehoods  of  you,  ain't 


326  The  Duty  of  Watchfulness, 

my  life  a  living  falsehood?  Isn't  my  profession  a  living  false- 
hood ?  "  "  Oh,  well,  I  know  it,is,  but— ah,  well,  if  you  look 
at  it  that  way,  now,"  they  will  say,  ^^of  course  I  can't  get 
mad  at  folks  for  telling  falsehoods  on  me."  "Well,  but 
that  man  told  the  biggest  lie  I  ever  heard."  "Well,  but  did 
you  never  tell  God  one  ?" 

A   GOOD   STORY. 

So  I  often  think  of  the  incident  when  Talmage  went  to  the 
father  of  the  boy  and  said  :  "  My  brother,  your  son" — a  lit- 
tle boy  about  ten  j^ears  old — "wants  to  join  my  church. 
What  do  you  say?"  "Oh,  no,"  said  the  father,  "he  don't 
want  it;  he's  too  young,  he  don't  know  what  he  is  doing." 
After  a  while  he  consented,  and  Talmage  told  him  that  he 
had  joined  the  church. 

About  three  months  after  that,  the  father  met  Talmage, 
and  he  said : 

"  There,  Dr.  Talmage,  I  told  you  that  my  little  boy  ought 
not  to  have  joined  the  church." 

"Why?"  said  Dr.  Talmage. 

"Why,"  he  said,  "no  later  than  yesterday  I  caught  him 
in  a  point-blank  lie." 

"You.did?" 

"Yes." 

"  How  old  were  you  when  you  joined  the  church  ?  " 

He  said  :  "I  didn't  join  the  church  until  I  was  a  grown 
man." 

"  Well,  how  many  lies  have  you  told  since  you  joined  the 
church  ?  " 

"Well,"  he  said,  "that's  a  gray  horse  of  another  color.  I 
never  thought  about  that.  That  makes  quite  a  difference, 
doesn't  it." 

I  will  watch  and  watch  in  all  directions,  and  see  to  it  ev- 
ery day  of  my  life  that  I  watch  the  approaches  of  every 
enemj^,  and  fight  them  as  they  come. 

THE   ENDURANCE    OF   AFFLICTION. 

Well,  when  he  told  me  to  manifest  always  and  possess  al- 
ways this  watchful,  vigilant  spirit,  then  he  said  to  me : 
Endure  afflictions. 

It  is  one  thing  to  do  the  will  of  God,  and  it  is  quite  an- 
other thing  to  suffer  the  will  of  God.     As  I  said  this  morn- 


Tlie  Duty  of  Watchfulness,  327 

ing,  most  anybody  is  willing  to  be  a  bammer  and  strike  for 
Grod,  and  but  very  few  people  are  willing  to  be  an  anvil  and 
to  be  struck  for  G-od.  And  there  is  quite  a  diiference  be- 
tween the  two.  Almost  anybody  is  willing  to  go  out  and 
knock  somebody  down  for  God,  but  are  you  willing  to  be 
knocked  down  for  God  ?     That  is  the  question. 

^*If  they  slap  you  on  the  right  cheek,  turn  your  left  also." 

THE   BEARING   SPIRIT. 

I  think  one  of  the  most  impressive  things  I  ever  heard 
was  where  the  young  man  belonging  to  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  was  standing  out  on  the  sidewalk  in  a 
city,  handing  dodgers  to  folks  out  in  the  street  and  pointing 
up  to  the  room  where  they  were  going  to  hold  the  service, 
and  a  gentleman  who  walked  along  with  the  crowd  saw  this 
young  man  hand  a  dodger  to  a  fellow,  and  the  fellow  peeled 
away  with  his  fist  and  almost  knocked  him  down  on  the  side- 
walk ;  but  he  regained  his  foothold  and  was  ready  with  a 
dodger  as  another  one  came  along;  and  directly  this  other 
one  slapped  him  in  the  face  as  he  gave  him  a  dodger;  and 
the  gentleman  got  interested  in  watching  how  the  young 
man  took  it;  and,  in  a  few  minutes,  he  put  a  dodger  in  a 
man's  hand,  and  the  man  caught  him  and  just  mashed  him 
right  down  on  the  ground,  and  tore  one  of  his  coat-sleeves 
off,  and  bruised  him  up  generally;  but  he  got  up  and  had 
another  dodger  ready  for  the  next  man  that  came  along. 
And  the  stranger  went  up  into  the  room  and  heard  a  young 
man  talk,  and  he  said  :  ^'Gentlemen,  I  never  heard  a  sermon 
in  my  life  yet  that  impressed  me,  but  I  stood  out  here  before 
your  door  and  saw  how  the  roughs  mistreated  that  young 
man  over  there,  and  I  saw  the  spirit  in  which  he  accepted  it; 
and  I  walked  in  here  to  your  meeting,  and  I  want  the  very 
same  spirit  which  that  boy  manifested." 

NO   USE   TO   FIGHT   BACK. 

Ah,  brethren, 
Endure  affliction. 

And  it  is  the  hardest  thing  in  the  world  to  do.  Humanity 
wants  to  fight  back  and  kick  back  and  talk  back.  I  have 
felt  that  a  thousand  times,  and  I  never  fought  back  or  kicked 
back  or  talked  back  in  my  life  that  I  was  not  sorry  that  I 
did  it.     The  best  thing  is  to  stand  and  hold  out,  and  let  your 


328  The  Duty  of  Watchfulness, 

enemy  kick  himself  to  death,  and  he  will  soon  do  that  if  you 
will  hold  right  still. 
Endure  affliction. 
One  of  the  soldiers  in  the  last  war  said :  ''One  of  the  hard- 
est things  I  had  to  do  during  the  last  war  was  to  lie  still 
under  fire." 

THE    TRIBULUM. 

And  this  affliction  here  is  nothing  but  the  bearing  and 
pressure  and  weight  of  the  "tribulum."  That  tribulum  we 
get  from  the  old  threshing-floor  where  the  wheat  was  spread 
out  in  the  straw  on  the  floor,  and  where  fvman  got  a  big  long 
hickory  pole  and  shaved  it  down  thin  in  the  middle  so  it 
would  have  a  spring  to  it,  and  he  came  down  on  the  wheat 
and  beat  away  there  by  the  hour;  and  that  was  the  ''tribu- 
lum" coming  down  on  the  wheat.  Do  you  know  what  he 
was  up  to?  He  was  getting  the  wheat  separated  from  the 
straw  and  chaif.  The  tribulum  is  the  weight,  you  see,  and 
when  God  comes  down  hard  with  the  tribulum  he  is  just 
beating  the  wheat  out  of  the  straw  and  chaff;  and  the  great 
astonishment  to  me  is  that  the  Lord  will  beat  away  so  hard 
and  so  long  to  get  as  little  wheat  as  there  is  in  us.  And  God 
is  obliged  to  be  patient,  and,  with  tender  mercy,  to  beat  six- 
ty years  on  some  of  us  and  never  get  more  than  half  a  peck 
of  wheat. 

BLESSING   BY   AFFLICTION. 
Endure  affliction. 

That  is  it.  Bear  whatever  is  sent  upon  you;  and  I  will 
tell  you  there  is  nothing  like  affliction.  Many  a  time  a  man 
has  grown  careless  and  godless  and  worldly  in  the  Church, 
and  the  Lord  has  tried  every  fair  means  to  touch  him  and 
move  him. 

And  there  is  a  man  now.  The  doctor  says :  "I  am  sure  it 
is  typhoid  fever  ;  "  and  on  the  fifteenth  day  he  says  to  his 
wife:  "His  case  is  getting  a  little  doubtful."  On  the  twen- 
tieth day  the  doctor  said:  "Youmay  prepare  for  the  worst." 
He  heard  the  whispering — he  was  laying  there  on  his  bed, 
and  the  old  clock  ticking  so  loud  there  on  the  mantel — he 
heard  the  doctor  talking  to  his  wife  just  outside  of  the  room 
door,  and  he  saw  his  wife's  lips  quiver,  and  he  saw  her  wipe 
the  tear  from  her  eye,  and  he  heard  the  doctor  say,  "You  can 


The  Duty  of  Watchfulness,  329 

prepare  for  the  worst."  The  twenty-first  morning  the  doc- 
tor said,  "He  is  a  shade  better :  the  crisis  is  come  3  he  is  turn- 
ing; there  is  a  chance  for  him." 

VOICING   HIS   THANKS. 

The  thirty-fifth  day  he  was  sitting  up  in  a  big  old  arm- 
rocker,  with  his  dressing  coat  on,  and  his  wife  gone  out  of 
the  room,  and  the  children  gone  out  of  the  room;  and  he 
says,  ^'  Well,  thank  God,  I  am  up  one  more  time  in  this 
world;"  and  he  gets  up  and  walks  to  the  door  by  the  help  of 
the  chair  that  he  drags  along  with  him;  he  turns  the  key 
and  locks  it,  and  he  walks  back  and  kneels  down  between 
the  arms  of  that  old  chair,  and  he  says,  "Thank  God,  I  am 
well  one  more  time;  getting  well.  He  has  spared  my  life, 
and,  now,  God,  on  my  knees  I  promise  you,  I  am  going  to 
make  a  better  member  of  the  church  and  a  better  father  and 
a  better  husband  than  I  have  ever  made."  And  he  gets  up 
off  of  his  knees,  and  God  blesses  him  ;  and  he  claps  his  hands 
and  says :  "Glory  to  God  !  He  is  so  good  to  me."  God  had 
to  take  that  fellow  and  put  him  on  a  forty  days'  case  of  ty- 
phoid fever  to  get  him  where  he  could  bless  him.  DonH 
you  see? 

THE   MORAL   THERAPEUTICS   OF   SICKNESS. 

Oh,  how  much  goodness  in  the  Lord  !     He  won't  let  us  be 
lost  until  he  has  done  his  very  best  on  us. 
Endure  affliction. 

Sometimes  it  don't  last  very  long.  I  recollect  a  case  down 
in  my  town  where  I  was  pastor.  I  worked  on  a  fellow  all 
during  the  meeting,  couldn't  do  anything  with  him,  but  he 
got  down  with  bilious  fever  and  he  got  to  death's  door. 
They  thought  he  was  gone.  And,  oh,  what  promises  he 
made  that  he  would  do  better  if  he  got  well.  And  two  or 
three  weeks  after  he  got  better  I  said  : 

"Brother  B ,  how  are  you  getting  along?" 

He  said  :  "  I  am  getting  better  all  the  time." 

"Well,"  I  said,  "how  about  your  soul?" 

''Well,"  he  says,  "  I  am  afraid  that  ain't  doing  much  bet- 
ter." 

"Didn't  you  promise  the  Lord  that  you  would  do  better  if 
you  got  well  ?" 

"Yes,"  he  said,  "Mr.  Jones,  I  did;   but  I  tell  you  a  fellow 


330  The  Duty  of  Watchfulness. 

is  going  to  ]5romise  most  anything  when  he  gets  down  as  far 
as  I  did.'' 

NOT   SEEKING   TO   AVOID   AFFLICTION. 
Endure  affliction. 

Whatever  is  sent  upon  you  bear  it  without  a  word,  for  I 
declare  to  you  there  is  nothing  like  patience  under  an  afflic- 
tion. 

When  the  Lord's  providences  touch  us,  let  us  be  like  the 
son,  a  great  big  grown  boy,  who,  when  he  had  done  some- 
thing wrong  and  his  mother  picked  up  a  big  brush  and  ran 
up  to  flail  him,  thinking  he  would  either  run  from  her  or  fight 
her,  just  folded  his  arms;  then  she  threw  up  the  brush  and 
cried  just  like  her  heart  would  break.  And,  brethren,  when 
the  Lord  runs  up  to  us  with  the  rod  of  correction,  let  us  not 
fight,  but  lean  up  against  God's  arms,  and  perhaps  he  will 
lay  the  rod  down  and  won't  strike  you  a  lick.  The  best  way 
to  fight  God  is  to  run  up  to  God.  I  found  out  when  I  was 
twelve  years  old  that  when  father  wanted  to  lick  me  the 
closer  I  got  to  him  the  better. 

EVANGELICAL  WORK. 

Then  he  said  : 
Do  the  work  of  an  evangelist. 

Now  you  say,  *'  That  just  had  reference  to  Timothy  ;  that 
does  not  have  a  reference  to  us  at  all."  Do  you  know  that 
God  intended  in  the  salvation  of  every  soul  that  you  should 
be  propagandists  yourselves?  Did  j^ou  ever  think  of  that? 
The  trouble  is  you  have  turned  the  world  over  to  us  preach- 
ers, and  you  have  turned  it  over  to  a  sorry  set,  and  we  are 
not  half  running  it,  God  knows.  But  I  reckon  we  do  the 
best  we  can  with  the  material  on  hand.  There  is  some  hick- 
ory the  Lord  himself  could  not  make  an  ax-handle  out  of, 
unless  he  makes  the  hickory  over  again. 
Do  the  work  of  an  evangelist. 

We  preachers  have  had  charge  of  the  churches  and  the  sal- 
vation of  this  world  now,  in  a  sense,  for  eighteen  hundred 
years^  and  we  have  just  gotten  one  man  in  every  twenty- 
eight  to  profess  to  be  a  Christian,  and  only  about  one  in 
those  twenty-eight  is  one  when  you  weigh  him  up  right. 
We  are  making  a  big  headwaj^  ain't  we?  We  preachers 
are  good  clever  men  and  da'the  best  we  can,  but  God  never 


The  Duty  of  Watchfulness.  831 

intended  that  the  world  should  be  handed  over  to  us.  He 
intends  that  every  converted  man  shall  be  a  preacher  in  a 
sense,  going  out  and  doing  work  as  an  evangelist.  Suppos- 
ing the  members  of  Brother  Lewis'  Church  started  out  on 
the  scriptural  line  to-morrow.  Supposing  every  member  of 
the  Church  said  :  "  Grod  helping  me,  I  will  win  one  soul  this 
year  for  Christ.^'  Supposing  you  said  last  January,  each 
member  of  St.  John's  Church  will  win  a  soul  apiece  for 
Christ.  The  membership  was  seven  hundred  and  twenty 
then,  and  it  would  be  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  forty 
next  January  if  that  promise  was  observed.  And  if  the  prom- 
ise were  renewed  then,  on  the  following  January  the  mem- 
bership would  be  two  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty. 
And  on  and  on  and  on,  and  in  this  way,  before  your  head 
grew  gray  all  over,  St.  John's  Church  could  turn  this  whole 
city  to  Christ.  That  is  arithmetical  progression,  and  God  is 
going  to  convert  this  world  just  that  way.  Listen  !  When 
one-half  of  the  world  is  converted  to  God,  and  that  half  says  : 
''  One  soul  apiece  to-morrow  for  Christ,"  and  all  go  out  and 
bring  one  soul  to  Christ,  then  everybody  is  converted  and 
a  nation  is  born  to  God  in  a  day  !     You  see  how  it  works. 

BROTHER   JONES    STARTING   OUT. 

Just  think,  only  one  soul  a  year  !  It  does  look  as  if  every 
Christian  ought  to  win  one  soul  a  year,  or  go  out  of  the 
business.  If  I  could  not  do  that  I  would  just  quit  in  utter, 
absolute  despair,  I  would.  And  I  want  to  say  to  you  all  to- 
night just  this:  Just  a  few  years  ago,  down  in  Georgia,  God 
stooped  down  and  touched  my  poor,  ruined,  wilted,  blasted 
soul  and  called  it  back  to  life.  I  started  out  the  weakest, 
frailest  thing,  and  I  declare  that  when  I  went  to  Atlanta  to 
join  the  Conference  I  had  no  idea  that  they  would  take  me. 
I  could  not  see  how  they  would  take  such  a  fellow  as  I  was 
and  put  me  to  work  ;  and  when  they  put  me  on  a  circuit,  I 
was  the  happiest  man  you  ever  saw;  and  when  I  got  nearly 
home — I  had  not  thought  about  what  the  thing  would  pay — 
a  man  stepped  up  and  said:  ''Mr.  Jones,  that  circuit  they 
have  sent  you  on  never  paid  but  $65  a  year  to  its  preacher." 
I  listened,  but  that  statement  did  not  bother  me  a  bit.  I  was 
happy  that  I  had  a  place  to  go  to  work  in.  I  started  in  down 
there  as  best  I  could.     My  worldly  assets,  thoroughly  mar- 


332  TJie  Duty  of  Watchfulness, 

shaled,  were  a  wife,  one  child,  a  pony,  and  $8; — and  my  lia- 
bilities were  several  hundred  dollars. 

That  is  just  the  way  1  started  when  I  went  down  on  that 
circuit.  I  commenced  preaching  six  or  seven  or  eight  times 
a  week,  preaching  and  meeting  in  private  houses,  schools 
and  churches,  working  as  hard  as  I  could  and  working  right 
on.  I  started  out  to  do  my  duty  towards  God  and  man,  and 
the  three  years  I  spent  in  that  work  were  the  happiest  three 
years,  it  seems  now,  of  all  my  life.  And  God  saw  to  it  that 
we  had  three  square  meals  a  day  and  respectable  clothes, 
and  that  is  as  much  as  you  have.  Do  you  have  any  more? 
If  you  do,  where  do  you  put  it?  Some  of  you  put  it  in  the 
bank;  some  in  railroad  stock.     Yes! 

A   REFERENCE   TO    MR.    VANDERBILT. 

I  do  not  reckon  there  has  been  a  mind  in  this  century  that 
has  been  under  higher  pressure  than  that  of  William  H.  Yan- 
derbilt.  There  were  many  things  about  that  man  I  honor — 
many  things  about  his  life  I  would  have  the  business  men  of 
this  world  emulate  ;  I  will  say  this  much  about  him.  The 
last  evening,  when  he  dropped  out  of  his  chair  and  fell  on  to 
the  floor,  when  the  railroad  President  was  talking  to  him — 
when  he  sat  in  that  chair  he  was  the  richest  man  in  America ; 
when  he  fell  on  that  floor  he  was  as  poor  as  I  am — as  poor 
as  I  am.  When  I  leave  this  world  I  want  my  friends  to  say, 
"lam  glad  there  is  a  good  man  gone  to  heaven."  When 
Yanderbilt  died  everybody  wanted  to  know,  ''How  will  it 
affect  the  Stock  Exchange?"  That  seems  to  be  the  only 
question  in  New  York  City  now;  "How  will  it  affect  the 
Stock  Exchange  ?"  They  do  not  seem  to  care  much  about 
the  man.  They  do  not  seem  to  have  much  to  say  about  his 
funeral.  The  whole  thing  rests  as  on  a  pivot  on  that  one 
question  :  "  How  will  his  death  affect  the  stock  market?" 

WORKING  FOR  SOULS. 

Now,  sir,  as  God  is  my  judge,  all  along  through  my  re- 
ligious life,  the  one  burning  desire  of  my  soul  has  been  to  see 
others  brought  to  Christ.  I  have  worked  on  and  on  and  I 
tell  you,  the  happiest  moments  of  my  life  have  been  the 
moments  when  I  have  seen  men's  souls  given  to  Christ.  The 
one  earnest  prayer  of  my  life  has  been,  "God  help  me  to 
help  souls  to  Christ."   Brothers,  how  do  you  feel  about  that  ? 


The  Duty  of  Watchfulness,  333 

I  may  gather  together  a  fortune,  but  it  may  curse  my  child- 
ren ;  but  if  I  gather  souls  to  Christ,  how  grand  that  is. 

This  recalls  the  dream  of  a  young  lady — I  do  not  go  much 
on  dreams,  but  there  was  something  impressive  about  this 
one.  A  young  lady  dreamed  that  she  died  and  went  to 
heaven.  As  she  stood  around  the  great  white  throne  she 
saw  that  every  one  there  had  on  a  beautiful  crown,  and  that 
beautiful  stars  decked  each  crown.  She  approached  a  sister 
spirit  and  said,  *'What  do  these  stars  represent  in  these 
crowns  ?''  The  sister  spirit  replied  :  '•  These  stars  represent 
the  souls  we  have  been  instrumental  in  saving;"  and  she 
said :  "  I  thought  I  reached  up  and  pulled  off  my  crown  and 
it  was  blank,  and  I  began  to  be  miserable  in  heaven.  And 
all  at  once  I  awoke  and  praised  Grod  that  I  was  still  out  of 
heaven;  and  I  said,  'I  will  spend  the  rest  of  my  days  in 
trimming  stars  for  my  crown  of  rejoicing  in  the  sweet  by- 
and-by.'  " 

STARLESS    CROWN. 

How  many  of  us  here  to-night,  if  we  died  and  went  to 
heaven,  would  wear  a  starless  crown  forever.  May  God  help 
me  as  I  journey  through  life  to  gather  souls  to  God  that  they 
may  be  stars,  not  in  my  crown,  but  blessed  be  God  I  would 
put  them  all  in  my  Master's  crown,  and  say  to  him,  ^'You  are 
worthy  of  them.  You  shed  your  blood  and  died  that  they 
might  be  redeemed. 

Do  the  work  of  an  evangelist. 

Let  us  go  out  and  reach  somebody.  Then  lastly  he  said, 
^'  Make  full  proof  of  your  ministry.''  I  do  love  to  see  a  soul 
go  and  work  in  earnest  for  Christ  and  work  on  until  the 
work  is  completed,  and  then  shout  over  the  results.  That 
is  just  what  this  means.  I  will  illustrate  this.  I  can  get 
through  quicker  in  that  way  than  any  other. 

A  wife's  prayers  answered. 
I  had  once  in  my  charge  when  I  was  a  pastor,  a  precious, 
good  wife  and  mother.  Fourteen  years  before  that  she 
married  a  young  man,  sober  and  industrious;  but  after  their 
marriage  he  commenced  associating  with  drinking  men.  He 
soon  commenced  to  drink  himself,  and  he  led  a  very  dissi- 
pated life  for  several  years,  and  finally  he  was  taken  home 
with  delirium   tremens.     One  morning  two   doctors  came 


334  The  Duty  of  Watchfulness, 

and  examined  him,  and  they  called  his  wife  aside  and  said: 

''Madame,  5- our  husband  will  die  to-day." 

She  looked  at  the  doctor  and  said,  "No,  he  wonH  die  to- 
day." 

''Well,"  they  said,  "  Madame,  these  symptoms  that  are  on 
him  never  fail.     He  will  die." 

"No,"  she  said,  "  doctor,  he  won't  die." 

"How  do  you  know?"  they  asked. 

She  said,  "I  have  been  praying  for  fourteen  years  to  God  to 
convert  that  mati  and  save  him  before  he  died.  And  I  have 
prayed  earnestly  and  with  faith,  and  I  know  he  is  not  going 
to  die.     I  do  not  care  a  cent  about  your  symptoms." 

That  evening  the  doctors  came  back  and  examined  her 
husband  and  said  he  was  better.  She  said:  "  I  have  not 
been  uneasy  about  him.  I  knew  God  had  not  converted 
him,  and  I  knew  God  would  not  let  him  die  until  he  was 
converted.  If  he  were  to  die  in  the  fix  he  is  in  I  would  die 
an  infidel.  I  could  never  have  believed  that  God  heard  and 
answered  prayer.  I  have  been  prajdng  for  his  conversion 
for  fourteen  years,  and  I  knew  God  would  not  let  him  die 
before  he  was  converted." 

A  SECOND  SIEGE  OF  THE  THRONE. 

The  man  got  better  and  he  was  converted,  and  he  led  a 
pure,  good  life  for  two  years,  and  then,  under  some  fearfal 
temptation,  he  fell  and  began  drinking  again.  She  went 
back  to  God  and  prayed  :  "  Good  Lord,  save  my  poor  hus- 
band at  any  cost.  I  will  work  my  hands  off  to  support  my 
seven  children.  My  God,  save  my  poor  husband.  I  do  not 
care  what  becomes  of  us." 

Two  or  three  months  afterwards  her  husband  was  taken 
with  articular  rheumatism,  the  most  fearful  kind  of  rheuma- 
tism that  ever  affiicted  humanity.  There  he  suffered  day 
after  day,  aiid  he  turned  his  heart  again  to  God.  He  was 
the  most  meek  and  patient  sufferer  you  ever  saw,  just  trust- 
ing in  God  every  moment.  One  morning,  when  his  wife  was 
standing  by,  he  said,  "  Good-by,  precious  wife.  The  moments 
are  coming  when  I  shall  leave  you;  I  shall  leave  you — and 
I  owe  it  all  to  you  and  Christ — I  shall  go  to  heaven  and 
pass  into  the  joys  of  the  blessed." 

She  stood  over  him  until  his  last  breath  had  gone^and  his 


The  Duty  of  Watchfulness,  335 

face  was  placid  and  calm  in  death.  As  soon  as  she  saw  sure 
enough  that  he  had  gone  into  eternity,  she  clasped  her  hands 
and  cried,  "  Glory  to  God,  he  is  saved  !  Now  I  will  work 
my  hands  off  to  support  my  children/'  And  that  woman 
to-day  is  a  precious  Christian  mother  of  seven  children,  and 
she  is  training  them  for  a  better  life.  Mothers  and  sisters, 
when  you  get  in  earnest  you  will  see  this  world  with  all 
its  glitter  and  fearful  influences  over  your  children.  You 
will  see  it  as  it  is,  and  will  say,  "  God  help  us  to  be  in  earn- 
est about  children  and  neighbors. '^ 

let's  get  to  work. 

ISTowletus  say:  ^'lam  going  to  pray  for  some  persons  and 
will  never  stop  until  they  are  converted.^'  Will  you  do  that 
and  interest  yourselves  in  souls  around  us?  I  could  stay 
here  and  relate  incident  after  incident  where  I  have  seen 
parents,  neighbors  and  friends  get  interested  for  others,  and 
how  they  just  surrendered  to  God,  and  how  they  were 
brought  to  Christ.  Let  us  go  away  to-night  and  say  :  "  God 
helping  me,  I  will  never  wear  a  starless  crown  in  heaven.  I 
am  going  to  win  some  souls  to  Christ."  Oh,  if  every  one  in 
this  meeting  would  save  a  soul  for  Christ  ! 

Now,  brother,  we  have  a  few  minutes  longer  to  stay  here 
to-night,  and  we  are  going  to  hold  an  after  service,  and  if 
any  of  you  have  more  important  business  elsewhere  than 
you  have  here,  you  can  leave  after  benediction.  If  any  of 
you  feel  that  you  want  to  obey  the  words  of  Paul  to 
Timothy,  when  he  said: 

Watch  thou  in  all  things,  endure  afflictions,  do  the  work  of  an  evangelist, 
make  full  proof  of  your  ministry — 

remain.  If  you  are  a  Christian  we  would  like  you  to  re- 
main; if  you  are  not  a  Christian  we  would  like  you  to  re- 
main. The  theater  wonH  be  out  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  and 
we  ought  to  be  willing  to  stay  here  and  talk  about  Jesus  and 
the  saving  of  souls  to  about  as  late  as  they  stay  at  the  thea- 
ter.    I  think  so  -,  I  think  there  is  more  profit  in  it. 

THE    LAST   APPEAL. 

I  never  did  preach  more  unsatisfactorily  to  myself  than  I 
have  preached  to-night,  but  I  have  done  the  best  I  could; 
and  I  pray  God  Almighty  that  some  truth  may  take  hold  of 
your  hearts  to-night,  and  that  you  may  roll  up  your  sleeves 
and  pitch  in  and  help  to  win  souls  to  Christ. 


^ERJVION  XIX. 
JhZ    '^Ah'U    /iND    THE    I^EJECTIOJ^I. 


Because  I  have  called  and  ye  refused  ;  I  have  stretched  out  my  hand,  and 

no  man  regarded  ; 

But  ye  have  set  at  naught  all  my  counsel,  and  would  none  of  my  reproof: 
I  also  will  laugh  at  your  calamity  ;  I  will  mock  when  your  fear  cometh. — 

Proverbs  1 ;  24-26. 

fHE  more  I  read  this  precious  book  I  hold  in  my  hand  the 
more  I  am  persuaded  of  this  one  fact,  that  God  is  doing 
all  that  infinite  wisdom  and  infinite  love  could  do  to  call 
back  a  wandering  world  to  himself.  There  is  not  a  page  of 
this  blessed  book  I  hold  in  my  hand  on  which  I  do  not  find 
expressions  and  declarations  that  convince  me  in  my  own 
mind  that  God  loves  me  and  is  interested  in  me,  that  God 
wishes  me  well,  and  that  he  is  ever  ready  to  manifest  him- 
self as  a  gracious  benefactor. 

god's  voice. 
And  when  I  read  this  text  and  look  at  the  pronouns  of 
this  text — 

Because  I  have  called — 
I  realize  that  this  is  God  speaking,  and  when  God  speaks 
all  mankind  ought  to  rise  to  their  feet  and  listen  to  what 
he  has  to  say. 

Because  I  have  called  and  ye — 
You  and  you  and  you — 

— and  ye  have  refused ;  I  have  stretched  out  my  hand,  and  no  man  re- 
garded ;  but  ye  have  set  at  naught  all  my  counsel,  and  would  none  of  my  re- 
proof: I  also  will  laugh  at  your  calamity ;  I  will  mock  when  your  fear  cometh. 

I  said  a  moment  ago  that  I  was  more  and  more  persuaded 
everyday  that  God  loves  men;  that  God  wishes  us  well; 
that  he  is  continually  calling  us  from  something  and  con- 
tinually calling  us  to  something.  Every  time  God  calls  a 
soul  from  hell  he  calls  that  soul  to  heaven,  and  when  God 
calls  us  to  heaven  he  calls  us  from  hell ;  and  when  he  calls 


The  Call  and  the  Rejection,  337 

me  up  to  his  bosom  he  calls  me  from  all  that  would  offend 
him  or  damage  me  as  an  immortal  man.  And  now  we  will 
discuss  the  text  in  a  plain,  pointed  way,  and  will  you  give  us 
your  prayers  and  your  attention  while  we  discuss  this  text? 
Because  I  have  called. 

god's  numberless  calls  to  man. 
Oh,  the  numberless  ways  in  which  (xod  has  been  calling 
this  world  to  repentance,  calling  us  to  a  better  life,  to  nobler 
things,  to  higher  heights,  to  greater  usefulness,  to  greater 
blessedness.  And  there  never  has  been  a  call  of  God  to  man 
that  did  not  draw  us  and  bid  us  come  to  something  better, 
and  something  happier,  and  something  wiser,  and  something 
grander.  There  never  has  been  a  call  of  God  that  did  not 
call  us  upward.  Who  is  it  to-night  that  does  not  want  to  be 
acquainted  with  a  better  state  of  things  ?  Who  is  it  that 
would  not  have  St.  Louis  called  up  on  a  higher  and  better 
plane  of  morals  and  right  living?  Who  is  it  would  not  like 
to  see  his  children  on  a  better  and  higher  plane  of  right  living? 
Who  is  it  that  would  not  like  to  see  this  whole  world  lifted  up 
into  the  perennial  sunshine  and  blessing?  Who  is  itto-night 
that  would  not  like  to  have  the  facts  announced :  There  is 
not  a  dram-drinker  in  our  city  ;  there  is  not  a  gambler  in  our 
city;  there  is  not  a  profane  swearer  in  our  city;  there  is  not 
a  licentious  person  in  our  city;  there  is  not  a  wicked  per- 
son in  our  city  ?  Who  is  it  that  would  not  like  the  electric 
wires  to  carry  the  grand  and  glorious  news  to  the  world 
to-night :  "  St.  Louis  is  literally  redeemed  from  sin  and  re- 
deemed to  God  ?  Instead  of  profanity  we  have  praying.  In- 
stead of  wickedness  we  have  righteousness.  Instead  of  thiev- 
ing and  robbery  we  have  the  golden  rule — ^  Do  unto  all  men 
as  you  would  they  should  do  unto  you?'  " 

ALL    god's    calls   ARE   TO   BETTER   THINGS. 

And  every  call  of  this  God-blessed  book  is  a  call  to  us 
away  from  something  that  is  wrong,  and  calling  us  toward 
something  that  is  better.  As  I  hear  God  and  heed  God  and 
obey  his  commands,  I  am  always  leaving  that  which  is  bad 
and  going  up  to  that  which  is  better.  Do  you  want  to  be  abet- 
ter man  ?  God  wants  you  to  be.  Do  you  want  to  be  a  better 
woman  ?  God  wants  you  to  be.  Do  you  want  to  be  a  better 
father  and  citizen  ?     God  wants   you  to  be.     And  this  old 


338  The  Call  and  the  Rejection. 

book  does  not  mean  anything  else,  from  Genesis  to  Revela- 
tion, except  that  its  truths  shall  make  you  happier,  freer, 
wiser,  j^urer ;  and  every  call  in  this  book  is  to  you  and   me 
to  come  up  on  a  plane  like  this  to  something  better. 
Because  I  have  called — 
One  of  the  divine  agencies  and  one  of  the  most  omnipotent 
in  calling  men  from  sin  to  righteousness  is  the  Divine  Spirit. 
And  in  his  gracious  love  God  sent  his  Son  to  die  for  us. 
The  Son  came  and  took  upon  himself  to  redeem  all  the  race. 
He  suffered,  bled,  and  died,  and  was  buried,  and  he  rose 
again  from  the  dead,  and  said  : 

It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away,  for  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter 
will  not  come  unto  you. 

THE    NEED  OF    THE    HOLY    SPIRIT. 

And  I  have  thought  many  times  that  if  God  had  left  this 
world  without  the  presence  and  power  of  his  Spirit  in  the 
sacrifice  of  his  Son,  oh,  what  an  unmeaning  sacrifice  that 
would  have  been  !  You  see  that  cross  yonder,  with  its 
bleeding  victim,  the  Savior  of  the  world  dying  upon  it,  and 
all  mankind  gazing  upon  it  ?  It  was  the  dim  outline  of  some- 
thing. The  world  did  not  understand  it.  Just  as  with  the 
hills  of  North  Georgia.  Some  mornings,  I  have  walked 
out  on  the  front  porch  of  a  country  residence  before  day- 
light, and  I  would  look  out  upon  the  beautiful  scenery  of 
North  Georgia  by  the  dim  darkness  of  the  night,  and  I  could 
not  see  anything  but  the  dim  outline  of  mountains  and  val- 
leys. It  was  an  indistinct  picture  that  did  not  mean  any- 
thing. And  I  have  gone  back  to  my  room,  and  after  awhile 
I  would  walk  out  on  the  porch  again.  Then  the  sun  had 
risen  up  over  the  eastern  hills  and  bathed  the  mountains  and 
valleys  in  a  sea  of  glorious  light.  And  then  I  looked  over 
these  mountains  and  valleys  and  saw  beauties  and  glories 
my  mind  had  not  conceived  before  when  I  looked  at  them  in 
the  dark. 

At  first,  this  old  world  looked  on  the  cross  and  did  not 
understand  it.  It  was  too  dim.  But  when  the  Holy  Spirit 
arose  on  the  scene  and  bathed  the  cross  in  a  sea  of  light, 
then  we  could  see — 

One  hanging  on  the  tree 

In  agonies  of  blood. 
He  fixed  his  languid  eyes  on  me, 
As  near  his  cross  I  stood. 


The  Call  arid  the  Rejection,  339 

Then  I  might  say  : 

Sure,  never  to  my  latest  breath 

Can  I  forget  that  look  ; 
He  seemed  to  charge  me  with  his  death, 

Though  not  a  word  he  spoke. 
And  then 

My  conscience  felt  and  owned  the  guilt 

And  plunged  me  in  despair ; 

By  that  precious  light  I  could  see  that 

My  sins  His  blood  had  spilled 

And  helped  to  nail  him  there. 
A  second  look- 
Under  this  divine  light — 

He  gave,  which  said : 

"I  freely  all  forgive, 
My  blood  is  shed  to  ransom  thee, 

I  die  that  thou  may'st  live." 

THE    HOLY   SPIRIT   LIGHTING   UP   THE    CROSS. 

And  oh,  the  cross  itself  would  never  have  been  anything 
but  a  dim  outline  of  God's  goodness  to  us  unless  the  Divine 
Spirit  had  bathed  it  in  a  sea  of  light,  so  that  I  could  see  on 
that  cross  my  Ecdeemer  and  precious  Savior.  Oh,  Holy 
Spirit,  arise  on  the  scene  to-night  and  let  us  see  that  cross, 
and  see  our  Savior,  and  see  that 

He  is  the  propitiation  of  our  sins,  and  not  for  ours  only,  but  also  for  the 
sins  of  the  whole  world. 

He  calls  us  by  his  Spirit.  His  Spirit  lights  up  Calvary 
and  lets  us  see  the  bleeding  victim.  And  then  the  Divine 
Spirit  calls  us  to  look  on  that  scene.  It  calls  us  to  view  our 
Savior  on  the  cross.  It  tells  us  that  he  is  our  Savior  and 
Eedeemer.  He  calls  us  by  his  Spirit.  And  that  Divine  Spir- 
it is  going  into  the  world, 

To  reprove  the  world  of  sin  and  of  righteousness  and  of  judgment. 

And,  brethren,  no  wonder  it  is  written  in  that  book, 
Grieve  not  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  whereby  ye  are  sealed  unto  the  day  of 
redemption. 

I  can  afford  to  do  anything  else  except  to  treat  lightly  the 
wooings  and  movings  of  the  Divine  Spirit. 

LISTEN   TO    god's    CALL. 

Oh,  brethrcD,  mark  the  expression  !  Whatever  else  you 
and  I  do,  when  Grod  himself  by  his  Spirit  touches  our  heart, 


340  TJie  Call  and  the  Rejection. 

let  us  yield  to  that  touch  and  obey  that  voice  !  And  that  Di- 
vine Spirit  is  in  this  city,  in  this  congregation,  in  your  heart. 
He  calls  you  to  a  better  life.  Will  you  heed  that  call  ?  Will 
you  obey  that  call?  Will  you  say  to-night,  "Oh,  Divine 
Spirit,  I  have  long  repulsed  thee,  bat  to-night  I  yield  my  life 
to  thee.  I  will  be  a  better  man.  I  will  be  a  better  woman  ?" 
Whenever  the  Divine  Spirit  knocks  at  the  door  of  yoxnY 
heart,  like  he  is  knocking  at  some  of  your  hearts  to-night, 
he  simply  knocks  that  you  may  open  unto  him,  and  he 
brings  life  and  salvation  in  his  train  where'er  he  goes. 

He  calls  us  by  his  Spirit  to  a  better  life.  I  know  God  is 
in  earnest,  because  all  the  manifestations  of  his  grace  show 
that  he  has  not  left  a  stone  unturned  to  make  me  a  better 
man.  He  not  only  calls  me  by  his  Spirit,  but  by  his  word. 
Do  you  know  how  many  calls  there  are  in  this  book  to  men, 
that  they  may  live  better  and  serve  God  and  their  genera- 
tion by  the  will  of  God  ? 

THE   CALLS   IN   THE   BIBLE. 

Have  you  any  idea  how  many  calls  there  are  in  this  book 
to  you,  my  brother,  and  to  you,  my  sister?  Oh,  this  book  ! 
with  each  page,  and  sometimes  with  each  verse,  calling  us  to 
nobler  and  better  things!  And  this  book  has  been  on  the 
table  at  your  home,  and  on  the  shelf  at  your  home,  and  in 
your  library  at  your  house — this  book  to-day  that  has  its 
millions  of  copies  scattered  over  the  earth,  and  almost  a 
million  calls  in  each  book  !  Oh,  surely  no  man  can  sink 
down  to  hell  at  last  and  say,  ''I  would  have  gone  to  nobler 
heights  and  to  a  better  life  than  I  did,  if  I  had  had  just  one 
call  of  mercy  and  goodness  from  God  to  me."  This  blessed 
book,  how  full  of  calls!  Oh,  there  is  many  a  man  who  not 
only  despises  the  God  of  this  book,  but  he  despises  this  book. 
I  love  this  book.  I  am  glad  this  book  was  the  precious  gift 
of  mother  to  her  children.  I  am  glad  my  mother  clasped 
this  book  to  her  heart  and  said  a  thousand  times: 

Holy  Bible  !  book  divine ! 
Precious  treasure,  thou  art  mine. 

NO   EXCUSE   FOR   IGNORANCE. 

I  am  so  glad  my  father's  highest  ambition  was  to  live  ac- 
cording to  the  precepts  of  this  book.  I  am  glad  that  the 
noblest  and  best  friends  I  have  in  this  world  have  charged 


The  Call  and  the  Bcjection.  341 

me  many  times  to  read  the  word  of  God,  and  obey  its  pre- 
cepts. I  am  so  glad  of  the  ten  millions  of  Bibles  scattered 
over  this  sin-cursed  earth,  that  go  like  blessings  into  every 
home.  And  friends,  to-night,  when  we  take  this  blessed 
book,  we  see  the  numberless  calls  God  makes  to  each  man. 
And  in  each  call  he  says,  "  Come  higher;  live  better;  pre- 
pare to  meet  your  God."  Then,  I  say,  if  we  should  die 
impenitent,  we  are  dumb  and  speechless  in  the  end. 

This  blessed  book,  so  full  of  calls  I 
Come  thou, 
said  this  book, 

Come  thou  with  us  and  we  will  do  thee  good. 

But  I  know  God  is  in  earnest.  He  not  only  calls  us  to  a 
better  life  by  his  Son,  and  his  Divine  Spirit,  but  he  calls  us 
by  his  ministry.  Just  think  of  the  numberless  voices  that 
are  raised  every  day  and  every  hour  upon  this  earth. 

THE    ministry's    CALL. 

The  ministry,  the  consecrated  ministry  of  God  !  I  know 
frequently  we  think  the  preachers  are  not  doing  much.  We 
think  frequently,  "  Our  preacher  is  a  very  inefficient  man  ;" 
but  I  can  say  this  to  the  honor  of  our  pulpits  in  America  : 
There  is  not  a  soul  in  this  house  that  ever  heard  a  sermon  by 
anybody — I  care  not  if  it  was  by  an  old  African  preacher,  I 
care  not  what  language  he  spoke — I  say  to  you  to-night,  you 
never  heard  a  sermon  in  your  life  that  did  not  have  truth 
enough  in  it  to  save  your  soul !  We  can  criticise  preachers — 
oh,  me!  it  takes  less  sense  to  criticise  than  it  does  to  do 
anything  else  in  the  world,  and  there  is  many  a  preacher 
whose  congregation  will  pack  him  in  an  ice-house  and  then 
abuse  him  because  he  does  not  perspire.  And  let  me  tell 
you  that  we  would  have  more  faithful  preachers  and  mora 
persistent  and  earnest  work  in  the  pulpit,  if  they  got  a  littla 
sympathy  from  the  world  around  them. 

Sympathy!  Say  what  you  please  about  preachers,  but  I 
have  noticed  this  much,  that  whatever  infidelity  has  done,  or 
whatever  infidelity  has  proposed  to  do,  I  have  never  heard 
of  its  projecting  an  infidel  city  without  a  preacher  or  a 
church  or  a  Bible.  Have  you  ever  heard  of  any  such  a  project 
as  that?  The  meanest,  darkest,  blackest  old  infidel  in  the 
world  never  intends  to  live  among  infidels,  anywhere  in  this 


342  ^      The  Call  and  the  Rejection, 

world,  and  he  is  going  to  be  ruined  because  he  is  going  to 
be  shut  up  with  them  in  hell  forever,  and  that  will  be  the 
meanest  and  most  bitter  pill  he  has  to  swallow  down  there  ! 
The  meanest  and  lowest  down  old  infidel  in  this  town — if 
you  were  going  to  establish  a  town  of  infidels  and  shut  out 
all  preachers  and  Bibles,  and  pass  a  law  that  no  church  shall 
be  erected  there — would  not  move  his  family  there  or  establish 
himself  there  if  he  was  an  old  bachelor.     That's  the  truth. 

GOING   TO   HELL   FROM   STODDARD   ADDITION. 

Brother,  I  am  glad  we  have  so  many  preachers.  And  I 
tell  you  another  thing  :  this  old  Stoddard  addition  here,  with 
its  many  spires  and  with  its  numberless  preachers — the  man 
that  goes  to  hell  from  Stoddard  addition,  St.  Louis,  is  going 
to  hell  with  a  vengeance  !     Now,  you  mark  that ! 

I  declare  to  you  that  I  have  thought  many  a  time,  if  I 
should  be  lost,  and  if  I  must  be  lost,  I'd  rather  go  from  some 
lonely  island  of  the  sea,  where  no  preacher's  voice  was  ever 
lifted,  and  where  no  Bible  ever  comes,  and  where  no  influ- 
ence was  ever  brought  to  bear  upon  me.  If  I  must  be  lost 
at  last,  let  me  go  from  some  lonely  island  of  the  sea,  where 
no  voice  of  the  pulpit  and  no  pleading  of  the  Church  was 
ever  heard.  Butthe  man  or  woman  that  sinks  down  to  death 
and  hell  from  under  the  voice  of  the  pulpit  must  perish  aw- 
fully and  perish  justly. 

ONE  SERMON  APIECE,  ALL  ROUND. 

Brethren,  there  has  been  one  sermon  to  each  soul  of  St. 
Louis  preached  in  this  city.  There  have  not  been  less  than 
four  hundred  thousand  sermons  preached  in  this  city  since 
the  day  it  was  incorporated.  And  now  we  are  assured  of 
this  fact,  that  for  every  soul  in  St.  Louis  there  has  been  an 
honest,  earnest  sermon  preached.  And,  oh,  brethren,  just 
think  how  Peter  ran  down  that  day  from  that  upper  cham- 
ber and  preached  one  short  sermon  ;  and  I  say  it  reverently, 
and  I  speak  it  honestly  and  reverently — you  never  heard  a 
sermon  in  your  life,  I  dare  assert,  that  was  not  as  good 
a  sermon  in  a  literal  sense  as  was  Peter's  sermon  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost;  and  under  that  short,  earnest  talk, 
three  thousand  souls  were  brought  to  Grod.  But  with  the 
wagon-loads  of  sermons  that  have  been  wasted  upon  us,  to- 
day thousands  and   hundreds  of  thousands  of  our  people 


The  Call  and  the  Rejection,  343 

are  in  the  gall  of  bitterness  and  in  the  bonds  of  iniquity. 
I  have  called  you  by  my  ministry. 

I  have  sent  you  my  preacher.  I  have  sent  preacher  after 
preacher  to  knock  at  the  door  of  your  conscience  and  arouse 
you  and  awaken  you  from  your  lethargy.  Thank  God  for 
every  consecrated  preacher  that  walks  the  face  of  the  earth  ! 
And  we  will  never  know  how  to  esteem  preachers  in  this 
life.  The  people  of  this  world  don't  recognize  how  God 
himself  has  thrown  the  preacher  in  the  pathway  of  every 
man  to  check  him  and  stop  him  and  turn  him  around  to 
bring  him  to  God. 

And  he  has  not  only  called  us  by  his  ministry.  If  he  had 
stopped  at  that,  it  seems  to  me  that  every  man  who  perished 
would  perish  without  excuse;  but  he  has  called  us  by  his 
providences. 

Oh,  how  the  providences  of  God  arouse  us  and  stir  us  up 
at  times.     The  providences  of  God. 

A    GEORGIA   STORY. 

In  our  town  was  an  old  associate  of  mine,  an  old  school- 
mate, a  kind-hearted,  clever  boy  ;  we  were  raised  boys  to- 
gether. And  I  walked  down  to  his  house  one  day.  I  heard 
his  child  was  sick.  I  walked  down  to  his  house  and  I  was 
invited  into  the  family  room.  His  wife  was  an  old  friend  of 
mine — we  were  boy  and  girl  together.  When  I  wont  in,  she 
sat  in  the  family  room,  with  a  sweet,  sick  child  in  her  arms; 
and  I  looked  at  that  child,  and  I  looked  at  her.  I  said: 
"Virginia,  God  is  going  to  take  this  little  fellow,  too,  from 
you;  it  certainly  cannot  live.''  And  I  saw  the  tears  leap  to 
her  eyes  and  spatter  down  into  the  face  of  the  sweet  child. 

Said  I :  *'  Virginia,  has  it  ever  appeared  to  you,  have  you 
ever  thought,  that  God  is  doing  his  best  to  save  your  poor 
husband" — her  husband  had  drank  and  drank  and  drank, 
aud  ho  had  suffered  with  delirium  tremens  but  a  short  time 
before  that. 

And  she  utterly  broke  down  and  sobbed,  and  said  :  ''  This 
is  the  sixth  sweet  child  I  have  given  up,  if  it  dies;  but  if 
God  will  save  my  husband  I  would  give  them  all  up,  if  it 
should  break  my  heart." 

HUNTING    THE    HUSBAND. 

I  went  down  town  and  hunted  her  husband  up.     I  met  her 


344  The  Call  and  the  Rejection. 

husband  on  the  sidewalk  and  walked  up  to  him,  and  I  slap- 
ped him  on  the  shoulder,  and  said  I :  ''John,  I  am  just  from 
your  house,  old  fellow.  And  you've  just  got  almost  an  an- 
gel for  a  wife,  and  that  woman  is  bathing  that  sweet  sick 
child  of  yours  with  her  tears  this  moment,  and  I  said  to 
your  wife,  'Virginia,  do  you  reckon  God  is  doing  his  best  to 
save  your  husband?'  and  she  just  sobbed  aloud  and  said: 

'"If  Grod  can  save  my  husband  by  taking  my  sweet  chil- 
dren from  me,  he  can  have  them  all/  And,"  said  I,  "John, 
in  the  name  of  Grod,  surrender,  and  give  your  heart  to  God 
and  be  a  religious  man." 

I  want  to  say  to  you  to-night,  that  man  is  an  earnest,  faith- 
ful, efficient  member  of  one  of  the  churches  in  our  town, 
and  walking  arm  in  arm  with  his  wife  to  the  church. 

GOD  DOES  HIS  BEST  TO  SAVE  US. 

Oh,  I  am  so  glad  that  God  will  not  suffer  us  to  perish  until 
he  has  done  his  best  to  save  us. 

If  a  man  had  asked  me  fifteen  years  ago — fourteen  years 
and  three  months  ago — if  a  man  had  asked  me,  "My  friend, 
what  is  the  worst  thing  that  could  happen  to  you?"  I  reck- 
on I  would  have  justspoken  up  involuntarily  and  said,  "The 
death  of  my  precious  father.  Oh,  I'd  rather  lose  all  than 
him!"  And  yet  my  father  came  to  death's  door  and  the 
providence  of  God  brought  me  to  his  dying  pillow,  where  I 
watched  him  as  he  passed  out  of  this  world.  And  I  want  to 
say  to  you  this,  that  God  Almighty  put  my  father's  corpse  in 
my  pathway,  and  I  turned  around  and  said,  "I  will  go  back  ! 
I  will  go  back  !" 

god's    last   RESORT. 

And  many  a  time  a  man  has  traveled  so  far  that  God  can 
never  stop  him  until  he  has  to  put  his  dead  wife  in  his  path- 
way; and  many  a  man  has  turned  around  and  said,  "I  will 
go  back!  I  will  go  back!"  Many  a  time  God  has  thrown 
the  sweet  angel  babe,  like  a  sweet  angel  chiseled  out  of  mar- 
ble, in  the  pathway  of  the  father,  and  stopped  him.  This 
much  I  know:  God  will  never  suffer  any  man  to  be  damned 
until  he  has  done  his  best  to  save  him. 

There  are  many  happy  home  circles  in  this  town.  A 
preacher  said  to  me  to-day:  "Brother  Jones,  one  of  the 
troubles  in  St.  Louis  is,  there  are  too  many  husbands  and 


The  Call  and  the  Rejection.  345 

fathers  out  of  the  Church  and  irreligious."  One  preacher 
said:  ''In  my  church  I  know  twenty  good  women  who  have 
wicked,  godless  husbands."  Twenty  good,  pious,  conse- 
crated wives  who  have  wicked,  wayward,  irreligious  hus- 
bands ! 

A  WORD    TO   HUSBANDS. 

I  just  want  to  look  at  every  man  to-night  who  has  a  g*ood, 
religious  wife.  I  want  to  say  this  to  you,  and  may  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God  burn  it  into  your  conscience.  Listen  to  me, 
friend!  Listen  !  The  man  who  stamps  upon  a  good  wife's 
heart  and  almost  crushes  the  last  drop  of  blood  out  of  it;  let 
me  say  to  you,  sir,  you  owe  that  wife  a  debt  that  you  can 
never  pay  her  until  you  pay  it  at  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ ! 
You  owe  those  innocent  children  that  throw  their  arms 
around  your  neck  and  love  you  with  all  their  heart,  you  owe 
those  precious  innocent  children  a  debt  that  you  never  can 
pay,  until  you  pay  it  with  your  wife  around  the  consecrated 
altar  of  God. 

A   TENDER   MEMORY. 

I  had  at  my  home  a  precious  child,  when  I  was  a  wicked, 
wayward,  godless  man.  It  was  the  only  sweet  child  lever  had 
that  looked  in  my  face  when  I  was  a  wicked,  wayward,  godless 
man.  That  child  is  in  heaven  ;  but,  thank  God,  I  have  not 
now  a  single  child  that  ever  looked  in  its  father's  face  when 
he  was  not  trying  to  serve  God  and  to  do  right. 

The  saddest  picture  in  this  world  is  to  see  a  good  wife  and 
good  mother  do  all  she  can  to  train  her  children  right  and 
lead  her  children  to  heaven,  and  the  husband  by  his  example 
and  by  his  life  doing  all  he  can  to  undo  the  work  of  his  wife 
and  to  curse  his  children.  I  have  thought  many  a  time, 
that  if  there  is  a  deeper,  darker,  more  awful  place  in  hell  for 
one  than  another,  it  must  be  for  that  husband  ar.^  that  father 
who,  in  spite  of  his  wife's  prayers  and  children  following  her 
example,  broke  through  it  all  and  despised  it  all  and  made 
his  bed  in  hell. 

Oh,  friend,  when  you  talk  about  children  !  If  you  cannot 
touch  a  man  when  you  bring  to  bear  the  relation  of  his  pre- 
cious children,  then  he  is  dead  to  everything  that  is  noble 
and  true  and  good. 

God  will  surely  take  some  things  from  us.  As  I  said  just 
now,   there  is  many  a  happy  circle  in  this  town  that  the 


846  The  Call  and  the  Rejection. 

Lord  has  let  go  on  through  other  means.  But  you  mark 
what  I  say  at  this  moment.  You  had  better  look  out !  God 
may  not  like  the  way  you  are  doing,  brother.  He  may  not 
like  the  example  3'ou  are  setting  j'our  children;  and  if  God 
takes  two  or  three  of  your  sweet  children  to  heaven  this  win- 
ter, you  are  going  to  be  a  better  father  to  those  that  are  left. 

A   WAR    STORY. 

1  In  a  meeting  once  like  this,  I  threw  it  open  for  talking, 
and  one  gentleman  stood  up  in  the  congregation.  Said  he: 
"  I  am  from  a  distant  city  ;  I  am  a  stranger  to  you  all,  but  I 
love  God,  and  I. want  to  be  a  Christian  all  my  daj^s;  but  I 
want  to  say  some  things  to  fathers.  I  want  you  to  hear  me. 
I  went  through  the  last  war,  and  never  went  into  a  battle 
— and  I  was  in  forty  or  fifty  hard  fought  battles — thatldind't 
go  in  with  a  solemn  vow  that  if  God  woul  d  spare  me  through 
that  battle  I  would  be  a  Christian.  Then  when  the  battle 
was  over  I  would  promise  God  that  after  I  got  home  from  the 
army  I  would  be  a  Christian.  And/^  said  he,  ^'  God  spared 
me  through  the  whole  war,  and  I  came  home  after  receiving 
only  one  slight  wound  during  the  war.  And  when  I  got 
home,  I  promised  God  if  I  married  I  would  be  a  Christinn; 
and  then  God  gave  me  a  good  wife  ;  and  then  I  said,  'If  we 
ever  have  children  that  need  to  follow  a  father's  exam- 
ple, then  I  will  be  religious.'  And,"  he  said,  ^Mn  the 
course  of  time  God  blessed  us  with  a  sweet  little  Mary  and  a 
sweet  little  Martha. 

IN    THE    DAY   OF    TROUBLE. 

'^And,''  he  said,  ''when  Mary  was  eight  years  old  and 
Martha  six — and  a  thousand  times,  I  reckon,  I  had  promised 
God  I  would  be  a  Christian — I  walked  in  home  from  the 
plantation  on©  day,  and  wife  said  to  me,  'Husband,  little 
Mary  is  very  sick  j  she  has  got  a  very  high  fever;  she  is 
iiow  scarcely  conscious  in  her  mind.'  I  walked  into  that 
room,  and  as  soon  as  my  eyes  fell  upon  that  child  I  said  to 
myself,  '  Now,  sir,  your  vows  to  God.  Do  you  recollect  the 
promises  you  made?'  The  child  got  worse  and  worse, 
and  the  next  day  that  precious  child  died,  and  over  the 
grave  of  that  child  I  said  I  would  keep  my  vows;  but  I  got 
home  and  I  didn't  do  it.  I  kept  putting  it  off  till  next  day. 
Just  a  week  from  that  I  walked  into  the  room,  and  wife  said, 


The  Call  and  the  Rejection,  S47 

'Husband,  precious  little  Martha  is  taken  just  like  little  Mary/ 
and  I  never  went  into  the  house  at  all — I  just  went  oif  to  the 
woods  and  fell  down  on  my  knees  and  said,  '  Lord,  if  you 
will  spare  that  precious  little  child  I  am  going  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian right  here  and  now/  And  I  made  my  surrender  un- 
compromisingly to  God  right  there,  and 

THE   RESULT. 

I  got  up  off  my  knees  and  went  back  to  the  house,  and  my 
wife  met  me  on  the  porch  and  said,  'Strange  to  say,  hus- 
band, the  fever  is  all  gone,  and  the  child  is  getting  right 
peart/  I  said,  '  Wife,  I  am  not  astonished.  I  have  just  got 
off  my  knees  out  yonder  in  the  woods,  and  I  told  tTie  Lord  if 
he  would  spare  my  child  I  would  be  a  Christian  from  this 
day ;  and,  oh,  if  I  had  done  that  a  week  ago  our  precious  lit- 
tle Mary  would  have  been  with  us  to-day/  " 

Oh,  you  don't  know,  brother,  how  many  thousand  ways 
God  has  used  to  bring  you  to  a  better  and  nobler  life.  I 
knew  there  are  people  that  will  laugh  and  people  that  will 
ridicule  the  very  thought  that  I  am  on  to-night;  but  I  be- 
lieve in  the  providence  of  God  as  strong  as  I  believe  in  my 
existence.  I  believe  that  God  rules  in  this  world  yet,  and 
that  the  very  hairs  of  my  head  are  numbered,  and  that  God 
does  not  allow  the  sparrow  that  chirps  in  the  thicket  to  fall 
to  the  gronnd  until  he  has  signed  its  death-warrant.. 

GOD  KNOWS  BEST. 

God  knows  me  and  knows  my  children,  and  he  knows  best. 
I  have  said  to  God  on  my  knees:  ''God,  you  know  best  what 
is  needed  for  my  soul.  If  anything  in  the  ordinary  means  of 
grace  won't  save  me,  God,  use  extraordinary  means  on  me; 
whatever  in  thy  wisdom  will  bring  me  closer  to  thee,  grac- 
ious Father,  let  those  means  be  used  on  me  !" 

Can  you  feel  that  way  to-night?  Many  a  time  I  have  gone 
home — and  if  there  ever  was  any  fellow  that  loved  home  I 
reckon  I  do — and  I  thought  of  this  persistent  effort  I  was 
making  here  in  St.  Louis,  leaving  all  I  had  to  come  and  help 
you — left  everything  in  the  world — loving  wife  that  I  loved, 
anything — to  come  here  and  help  you  in  this  meeting;  and 
I  want  to  say  to  you,  brethren  and  friends  here  to-night, 
whatever  is  best  for  me,  whatever  is  best  for  my  children 
and  for  my  home,  my  God,  may  that  come  upon  us.    If  it  is 


348 


The  Call  and  the  Bejection. 


poverty,  I  would  rather  starve  to  death  in  one  poor  hovel, 
if  that  means  getting  to  heaven,  than  have  the  wealth  of 
Yanderbilt  and  ride  in  purple  and  fine  linen,  and  be  damn- 
ed at  last.  Nothing  in  this  world  will  pay  me  for  going  to 
hell ;  and  I  say,  Lord  Grod  !  let  anything  come  but  that. 


A  THOUSAND  CALLS  TO  GOD. 

God  calls  us  by  his  providence.  I  believe  in  the  provi- 
dence of  God  ;  can  not  help  believing  it.  And  God  not  only 
calls  us  by  his  providence,  and  not  only  by  his  ministry,  but, 
as  Mr.  Spurgeon  said  once,  God  calls  us  in  a  thousand  ways 
if  we  would  just  stop  and  listen.  Why,  said  he,  when  we 
walk  out  in  the  morning  God  makes  his  sun  preach  to  us.  As 
the  sun  climbs  the  slippery  steeps  of  the  skies,  God  makes 
him  whisper  down  to  us,  ^'  Oh,  man,  look  at  my  pathway, 
upward  and  onward,  brighter  and  brighter  !  How  is  your 
pathway?"  And  when  the  sun  poiseshimself  at  meridian,  he 
says,  ''Man,  I  have  gone  half  of  my  day's  journey.  Have 
you?"  And  as  he  descends  toward  the  West,  he  says  :  ''Man, 
I  am  going  down  behind  the  Western  hills,  and  you  are  go- 
ing down  to  the  grave."  And 
when  he  sinks  behind  the 
Western  hills,  he  says  :  "  Man, 
will  you  go  down  with  me  to- 
day and  paint  the  splendors  of 
your  life  over  the  horizon  of 
your  death,  or  will  you  go 
down  to  a  cloudy,  fearful,  dark, 
hopeless  abyss  ?" 

And  when  we  walk  into  our 
family  room  at  night  and  light 
up,  and  the  little  candle-fly  flits 
around,  and  we  brush  it  off  and 
say,  "Foolish  thing,  don't  burn 
yourself  to  death,"  and  then 
the  little  fly,  the  little  mote, 
" Foolish  t/il/u/,  ihm't  hum  yuur6olf  -Q^ies  around  the  light,  and  darts 
to  death."  j^^q    [^^    ^nd    burns    itself    to 

death,  God  makes  the  little  dead  mote  speak  and  say, 
"Man,  you  are  doing  the  very  same  thing.  You  are  dazzled 
by  the  pleasures  and  appearances  of  life,  and  you  have  al- 


Tlie  Call  and  the  Uejection.  349 

ready  scorched  your  immortality,  and  you  are  darting  down 
into  an  eternal  and  everlasting  despair,  by-and-by/' 

HOME  LIFE  CALLS  TO  GOD. 

"When  you  come  in  to  your  table  and  sit  down,  and  there 
are  the  children  gathered  around  you,  and  you  help  their 
plates,  God  says,  "  As  you  are  willing  to  give  food  and  rai- 
ment to  your  children  around  you,  man,  come  to  me.  I  am 
more  willing  to  give  good  things  than  you  are  to  give  food 
to  your  children.'' 

As  you  go  into  your  room  at  night  and  shut  the  door,  God 
says,  "So,  man,  heaven's  door  is  going  to  be  shut  some  of 
these  days.  Will  you  be  on  the  outside,  or  will  you  be  in- 
side forever  V 

And  when  some  sudden  move  awakens  you  at  night,  then 
God  says:  "Be  ye  also  ready,  for  ye  know  not  the  day  or 
hour  when  the  Son  of  Man  cometh." 

Are  you  a  farmer  ?  Every  time  you  go  out  in  your  field  to 
sow  seed,  God  says  :  "  Man,  I  have  been  sowing  the  seed  of 
life  in  yeur  heart  all  your  days."  When  you  come  out  to 
look  at  the  grain  coming  so  beautifully,  God  says:  "Man, 
where  are  those  seeds  I  have  sown  in  your  heart?"  When 
you  go  out  to  reap  your  wheat,  God  says  :  "Man,  the  sickle  of 
death  will  reap  jou.  down  after  awhile."  When  you  thresh 
it  and  separate  the  wheat  from  the  chaff,  God  says:  "  Man, 
that  is  just  where  I  shall  be  by-and-by,  separating  the  wheat 
from  the  chaff,  and  the  chaff  shall  be  burned  with  unquench- 
able fire." 

THE  HEAVENLY  ADVOCATE. 

Are  you  a  lawyer  ?  Every  time  a  client  comes  to  you,  God 
whispers  back  and  says,  "  Man,  have  you  an  advocate  up 
yonder  to  plead  your  cause  before  the  eternal  bar  of  God?'' 

Are  you  a  school  teacher?  Jesus  says,  "Learn  of  me,  for  I 
am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart." 

Are  you  a  blacksmith  ?  Every  time  you  bring  your  ham- 
mer down  on  the  anvil,  God  says,  "Oh,  man,  I  have  been 
hammering  your  heart  with  the  hammer  of  my  word  and 
love,  all  your  days,  and  yet  it  will  not  give." 

Are  you  a  merchant?  Every  time  you  measure  off  a  yard 
of  calico,  God  says,  "Man,  I  am  measuring  off  your  days  to 
you."    And  when  you  take  the  scissors  and  clip  the  cloth, 


850  l^he  Call  and  the  BejccUon. 

God  says, ''Man,  the  scissors  of  death  will  cut  you  loose 
from  time  some  of  these  days/'  As  3-0U  put  your  sugar  in 
the  scales  and  weigh  it,  God  sa3^s,  "  i¥e/ze,  mene,  tekel ;  you 
are  weighed  in  the  balance  and  found  wanting/' 

As  I  turn  my  eyes  to  the  burning  iire  in  the  grate  at  night 
God  says,  ''Man,  will  you  shun  that  fire  that  shall  never  be 
extinguished?" 

As  the  grand  old  Mississippi  floats  by  you,  here,  God  says, 
"  Man,  will  you  flow  over  the  banks  of  the  Biver  of  Life,  and 
drink  its  waters  forever  V 

And  as  you  look  out  upon  the  shade  trees  of  this  city,  God 
says,  "Man,  will  you  eat  of  the  fruit  of  life,  and  sit  down 
under  the  tree  of  life  in  the  world  above  up  yonder?'' 

As  you  look  at  the  stars  above  your  head,  God  whispers 
back  and  says,  "I  have  sprinkled  the  canopy  of  this  moral 
universe  with  golden  promises,  and  I  bid  you  look  up  and 
live/' 

As  I  look  at  the  sun  he  says,  "I  will  grow  dim,  but  you 
shall  live  on/'  As  I  look  at  the  moon,  she  says,  "I  shall 
sink  in  darkness  and  be  turned  to  blood,  but  your  immortal 
spirit  shall  live  in  heaven  forever,  or  be  with  the  damned 
cast  out/' 

And  no  matter  who  I  am,  or  where  I  am,  or  what  I  am 
doing,  God  is  calling  me  every  minute  to  a  nobler  and  bettei 
life. 

YOU  HAVE  HEARD  THESE  CALLS. 

Friend,  will  you  hear  these  calls? 
Because  I  have  called  and  ye  have  refused — 

I  want  to  say,  brethren — and  I  hurry  through — oh,  the 
numberless  calls  of  God.  God  not  only  calls  me  once,  but 
he  has  called  me  a  thousand  times;  and  not  only  called  me  a 
thousand  times,  but  has  called  me  ten  thousand  times. 

And  then  I  say  another  thing  right  at  this  point,  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  all  grace  help  me  to  seal  these  words  upon 
the  consciences  of  this  people  here;  God  has  not  only  called 
you  a  thousand  times,  but  you  have  heard  every  one  of 
those  calls.  Oh,  my  brother,  5^ou  have  not  only  heard  them 
with  your  ears,  but  those  calls  have  been  ringing  down 
through  the  chambers  of  your  soul  and  you  have  heard 
them  down  to  the  innermost  depths  of  your  conscience.  You 
have  heard  all  the  calls  of  God. 


The  Call  and  the  Bejection.  351 

And  God  has  not  only  called  you  ten  thousand  times,  and 
you  have  not  only  heard  all  those  calls,  but — most  awful 
point  of  all — you  have  understood  those  calls.  You  knew 
■what  they  meant.  But  there  is  something  else  at  hand  ;  there 
is  something  else  you  wanted  to  look  to;  something  else 
you  wanted  to  attend  to;  and  now,  my  brother,  after  God 
has  called  us  one  thousand  times,  and  w^e  have  heard  all  those 
calls,  and  we  have  understood  all  those  calls,  then  if  we 
perish,  we  perish  awfully,  and  we  perish  eternally!  Oh, 
just  think  a  moment!  Oh,  how  many  calls !  How  many 
calls! 

GOD    STRETCHING   OUT   HIS   ARMS. 

Because  I  have  called  and  ye  have  refused :  I  have  stretched  out  my  hands, 
and  no  man  regarded. 

Oh,  when  I  think  that  God  has  not  only  called  us  w^ith  his 
divine  voice,  but  is  stretching  out  his  merciful  hand,  and 
says;  ''Here,  take  it!  take  it!  Whosoever  will,  let  him  take 
the  water  of  life  freely.^'  How  God  has  stooped  down  from 
heaven  and  pushed  his  divine  hand  out  in  the  reach  of  every 
man  in  the  world  !  He  says  :  ''Whosoeverwill,  let  him  take 
that  which  I  am  offering  to  him.'^ 

You  see  that  mother  yonder.  She  is  calling  little  Willie, 
and  little  Willie  turns  his  head  and  hears  mamma  calling, 
and  he  runs  on;  and  mamma  calls  little  Willie  and  he  pays 
no  attention  to  her  voice;  and  directly  little  Willie  looks 
back  at  mamma  and  mamma  has  stretched  out  her  arms  to 
him  ;  and  those  arms  have  always  been  resistless  to  him, 
and  he  has  always  run  to  them  when  they  were  stretched 
out.  And  if  you  just  look  up  and  listen  to  the  voice  of  God 
to-night,  as  you  hear  it,  you  may  look  and  see  the  great  lov- 
ing arms  of  God  outstretched  towards  you!  Oh,  how  true, 
this  is : 

The  father  saw  him  a  great  way  off,  and  ran  to  him,  and  fell  on  his  necl: 
and  kissed  him. 

God's  arm  is  extended  to  save  man. 
I  have  stretched  out  my  hand,  and  no  man  regarded. 

THE    DIVINE    RETRIBUTION. 

!N'ow : 

I  will  laugh  at  your  calamity,  and  mock  when  your  fear  cometh. 
Brethren,  I  announce  the  most  fearful  truth  this  moment 


352  The  Gall  and  the  Rejection. 

in  the  moral  universe  of  God.  Hear  it.  I  see  men  laughing 
to-day,  and  scoffing  to-day,  and  reviling  to-day,  and  despis- 
ing to-day  !  Listen  !  The  most  fearful  announcement  in  the 
book  of  God  is  this  : 

What  measure  ye  mete  shall  be  measured  to  you  again. 
Your  time  now  is  spent  in  laughing  and  scoffing  and  de- 
spising.   Just  the  way  you  treat  God  now  he  will  treat  you 
by-and-by. 

What  measure  ye  mete  shall  be  measured  to  you  again. 
Good  measure  !  heaped  up  !    shaken  down   and  running 
over !  Oh,  brother,  as  you  laugh  to-night  at  the  pleading, 
earnest  face  of  God,  just  so,  when  you  plead,  the  book  says 
God 

Will  laugh  at  your  calamity  and  mock  when  your  fear  cometh. 
Oh,  sir!  now  you  have  got  me  at  a  point  in  the  moral 
thought  of  this  world  that  I  do  not  understand.  "  God  laugh- 
ing at  the  calamity  of  a  soul !  God  laughing  at  my  calamity! 
Do  you  mean  that?''  Then  I  ask  this  question — while  God 
in  his  divine  love  and  compassion  calls  you  to-night,  I  will 
ask  you  one  question. 

Do  you  laugh  at  God?  Do  you?  As  God  stretches  out 
his  hands  and  begs  and  pleads,  will  you,  can  you  laugh  ?  Do 
you  laugh  at  God?  Will  you  explain  that?  Then  if  you 
will,  I  will  explain  to  you  how  God 

Will  laugh  at  your  calamity  and  mock  when  your  fear  cometh. 

BETTER    MAKE   PEACE   WITH   GOD. 

I  tell  you  how  I'm  going  to  do,  God  helping  me.  I  am 
going  to  treat  God  to-night  just  like  I  want  him  to  treat  me 
when  I  am  helpless  and  powerless  at  the  judgment  bar.  As 
I  look  to-night  at  the  loving,  gentle  face  of  God,  and  he 
yearns  in  heart  and  soul  for  me  now,  I  return  that  yearning 
to  God  and  say,  ^'  My  God  and  my  Father,  I  hear  thee  j  I  will 
obey  thee."  And  then  by-and-by,  when  I  call  upon  God, 
when  I  lift  my  voice  at  the  judgment  and  say: 
Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul, 

Let  me  to  thy  bosom  fly, 
While  the  raging  billows  roll, 
While  the  tempest  still  is  high. 

Hide  me,  O,  my  Savior  hide, 

Till  the  storm  of  life  be  past; 
Safe  into  the  haven  guide, 

Oh,  receive  my  soul  at  last. 


The  Call  and  the  Rejection.  853 

Other  refuge  have  I  none, 
Hangs  my  helpless  soul  on  thee  ; 

And  Jesus  will  say,  "Inasmuch  as  I  called  you  yonder  and 
you  answered  not,  when  you  call  on  me  I  will  answer:^' 
The  measure  ye  mete  shall  be  measured  to  you  again. 

And  brother,  I  am  going  to  heed  Grod  to-night,  and  he  will 
heed  me  by-and-by ;  that's  it. 

THE    TEXT    ILLUSTRATED. 

IN'ow,  I  say,  I  can't  explain  the  text!  I  don't  know  its 
depth  'j  but  I  will  say  this  :  A  preacher  some  time  ago  gave 
me  the  finest  illustration  of  what  this  text  means  that  I  ever 
found  or  heard  of  before. 

He  said,  in  the  town  where  he  was  pastor  there  lived  out 
about  two  miles  in  the  country  a  wealthy  gentleman — a  very 
wealthy  man,  and  a  good  man,  too.  He  said  that  gentleman 
had  only  one  child,  a  son,  and  that  gentleman  just  lavished 
all  his  kindness  and  generosity  and  wealth  upon  that  boy, 
that  was  the  pride  of  his  father's  heart.  That  young  man 
went  off  to  college.  His  father  sent  him  to  college  and  just 
lavished  everything  in  the  educational  line  upon  him  that 
could  be  given  him.  When  that  boy  returned  from  college, 
instead  of  an  educated,  refined  gentleman,  he  returned  a 
drunken  sot.  And,  he  said,  that  boy  came  home,  and  his 
father,  after  he  returned  home  a  drunken  sot,  just  lavished 
every  kindness  that  the  human  heart  could  conceive  upon 
that  drunken,  wayward  boy.  But  the  boy  went  from  bad  to 
worse;  and,  he  said,  I  have  looked  at  his  father  and  thought 
to  myself,  "  That  boy  is  literally  stabbing  his  father  to 
death." 

HOW   TO   KILL  LOVING   PARENTS. 

Oh,  me  !  There  is  a  way  to  kill  a  mother  or  a  father  with- 
out any  weapon.  The  father  of  two  or  three  drunken  boys 
said  to  me,  "Jones,  my  boys  are  killing  their  mother,  my 
precious  wife.  Jones,  what  can  I  do  ?  What  would  you  do? 
It  don't  look  like  their  mother  will  live  twelve  months  long- 
er." "Well,"  said  I,  "I  don't  know,  brother,  I  declare!  You 
puzzle  me  with  that  question  ;  but  I'll  say  this  much.  If  I 
ever  raise  a  boy  at  my  house  that  is  a  drunken  debauchee, 
and  my  boys  turn  out  to  be  drunken  vagabonds,  and  just 
crush  their  mother's  heart  with  it,  some  night  or  morning 
when  they  wake  up  sober,  I'm  going  to  call  them  into  their 


354  TJie  Call  and  the  Rejection, 

room,  and  say,  'Boys,  you  are  killing  your  precious  mother 
by  the  inch.  She  is  dying  a  hundred  deaths  !  Boys,  listen 
to  me  :  Go  up  in  your  room  and  get  the  old  breech-loading 
shotgun,  and  put  forty  buckshot  into  each  barrel,  and  walk 
down  to  the  breakfast  table  this  morning,  and  put  it  to  your 
mother's  head  and  fire  both  barrels  off.  You  shan't  kill  my 
precious  wife  by  inches.  You  may  bring  j^our  shotgun  and 
shoot  her  down,  but  you  shan't  kill  her  by  inches  that  way, 
boys." 

Oh,  me!  There's  many  a  precious  woman  in  this  town 
that  is  dying  by  the  inch,  and  you  can  run  home  to-night 
and  put  your  ear  to  your  wife's  heart,  and  you  can  hear  the 
blood  drip!  drip!  drip!    May  Grod  have  mercy  upon  us. 

Husband,  as  you  look  at  home  to-night,  think  a  moment. 
Now,  to  go  back  to  my  story. 

THE   STORY  RESUMED. 

That  boy  went  on  from  bad  to  worse,  aud  from  worse  to 
worst,  until  one  day,  the  preacher  told  me,  the  father  drove 
in  town  one  morning,  and  got  out  of  his  buggy,  and  started 
down  the  sidewalk,  and  met  this  drunken  boy.  And  this 
drunken  boy,  in  his  rage  from  liquor,  took  hold  of  his  father 
and  cursed  him  and  handled  him  rudely.  He  said  the  father 
turned  right  round,  and  went  back  and  got  in  his  buggy,  and 
drove  off  towards  home.  And  he  was  watched  ;  they  could 
see  from  his  face  that  there  had  been  an  awful  change  in  that 
father's  mind  and  heart.  And  that  father  drove  up  in  the 
grove  in  front  of  his  house,  and  hitched  his  horse,  and 
walked  down  to  the  far  edge  of  the  grove;  and  when  he 
reached  the  farthest  point  from  the  house  he  was  seen  to 
clasp  his  hands  above  his  head  and  give  the  most  awful 
screams  that  ever  escaped  human  lips.  He  took  his  hands 
down,  and  then  placed  his  hands  above  his  head  again,  and 
a  wail  of  infinite  despair,  as  loud  almost  as  human  voice 
could  be  pitched,  escaped  his  lips  ;  and  then  he  threw  his 
hands  up  one  more  time,  and  such  another  wail  scarcely 
ever  greeted  the  ear  of  human  being;  and  then  he  turned 
calmly  round  and  walked  back  to  his  house.  And  in  about 
half  an  hour,  he  said,  this  drunken  boy  came  staggering  up 
on  the  steps,  and  the  father  met  him  on  the  front  porch,  and 
turned  him  deliberately  round,  and  said  : 


The  Call  and  the  Rejection.  355 

"Off  these  premises  forever !     You  are  no  longer  anything 
to  me.     I  have  cut  loose  from  you  forever  !" 
And  he  drove  that  boy  off  his  premises. 


"  Off  these  premises  forever  /" 

And  ten  days  from  that,  that  poor  miserable  boy  died  in 
the  gutter  in  that  town,  and  his  father  never  went  about 
him  J  never  attended  his  funeral;  never  paid  any  more  at- 
tention than  if  he  had  been  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land. 

THE   FATE    OF   JERUSALEM. 

Listen  to  me,  friends.  I  know,  if  Jesus  Christ  ever  did  his 
best  anywhere,  it  was  in  Jerusalem.     If  there  was  a  spot  on 

23 


356  The  Call  and  the  Rejection, 

earth  that  Christ  loved,  it  was  Jerusalem.  Iftherewasa 
people  he  had  longed  for  and  prayed  over,  it  was  for  the 
people  of  Jerusalem.  And  listen  !  As  he  looked  over  the 
doomed  city,  he  said  : 

Oh,  Jerusalem  !  Jerusalem!  How  oft  would  I  have  gathered  thee  under 
my  wings  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens,  but  ye  would  not.  Now,  behold, 
your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate ! 

Oh,  the  soul,  the  soul  that  God  tells  '^good-by,"  is  gone 
forever.  The  soul,  the  soul  that  God  shall  speak  to  in  lan- 
guage like  this : 

Ye  shall  seek  and  shall  not  find  me. 

Ye  shall  die  in  your  sins. 

God  has  spoken  it  and  God  shall  never  retract  his  word  in 
time  or  eternity. 

The  Lord  God  have  mercy  upon  us,  and  whatever  else  we 
do,  God  help  us  to  attend  to  the  salvation  of  our  souls,  and 
hear  and  obey  the  calls  of  God.  Will  you,  to-night?  Will 
you,  to-night? 

A  CALL  FOR  PENITENTS. 

I  am  going  to  announce  preaching  here  by  myself  in  the 
morning  at  10:30.  To-morrow  afternoon,  or  rather  morning, 
is  a  special  service.  I  shall  lead  the  service  with  a  short 
talk  about  consecration.  These  other  preachers  will  be 
here  and  have  a  few  words  to  say.  I  want  you  here  to  say 
something.  I  want  to  see  the  room  in  the  morning  as  full 
as  it  is  to-night,  with  both  rooms  and  the  galleries  full  of 
people.  God  is  going  to  do  a  great  work.  Some  of  you 
will  give  your  souls  to  God  to-night,  or  some  of  you  never 
will,  never  will.  There's  a  point  in  every  man's  life  when 
it  is  "  now  or  never,"  ^<  Now  or  never."  I  say  "Now"  to- 
night, and  maybe  you'll  say  "Never^  but  it's  one  or  the 
other. 

To-morrow  night  we  have  service  in  the  church.  Sabbath 
night  I  believe  the  preachers  have  arranged  for  the  services 
to  begin  in  Brother  Brookes'  church.  And  then  we  will  go 
on  through  next  week,  and  oh,  brethren,  I  want  to  see  next 
week  in  St.  Louis  a  harvest  week.  A  thousand  souls  a  day  I 
would  like  to  see  come  to  God  next  week. 

And  now  we  are  going  to  pronounce  the  benediction  in  a 
minute,  and  sing  a  piece,  and  every  soul  here  to-night  that 


The  Call  and  the  Rejection.  357 

wants  to  answer  the  calls  of  God — and  this  may  be  your  last 
call — is  invited  to  remain.  You  say:  '^  Oh,  don't  try  to 
scare  folks."  Well,  brother,  I  have  said  it  to  many  men  and 
it  was  so,  sure  enough.  I  don't  know  any  more  about  wh^t 
is  going  to  happen  than  you  do,  but  I  can  say  this  much ;  I 
have  told  many  men,  "  This  is  your  last  call,"  and  it  was.  It 
was. 

THE   LAST   APPEAL. 

Will  you  stay  here  a  few  minutes.  Will  you?  If  you  are 
a  Christian  man  and  a  member  of  a  St.  Louis  church,  will 
you  stay  here  to-night  a  few  minutes?  God  help  us  !  God 
help  us  one  more  time  before  we  die  to  do  just  what  we 
ought  to  do.  If  you  are  a  sinner,  stay  here  and  confess  it. 
If  you  are  a  Christian,  stay  here  and  let  us  bring  some  souls 
to  God  to-night. 

Now  we  are  going  to  pronounce  the  benediction,  and  will 
you,  friend,  will  you  stay  if  you  want  to  heed  the  calls  of 
God  ?  And  if  you  have  nothing  to  keep  you  but  idle  curiosi- 
ty, then  we  don't  want  you  to  stay  any  longer  to-night.  We 
want  you  to  come  back  to-morrow  and  to-morrow  night, 
but  we  don't  want  you  any  longer  to-night.  But  if  you  are 
interested,  because  interested  for  yourself,  or  interested  for 
somebody  else,  then,  friend,  let  us  this  night  decide  that  we 
swear  eternal  allegiance  to  God.  Let  us  to-night  settle  this 
question:  ^'I  have  been  putting  it  off  long  enough," 


PEF(M0N  XX. 


And  he  said ;  A  certain  man  had  two  sons. 

And  the  younger  of  them  said  to  his  father,  father,  give  me  the  portion  of 
goods  that  falleth  to  me.    And  he  divided  unto  them  his  living. 

And  not  many  days  after,  the  younger  son  gathered  all  together  and  took 
his  journey  into  afar  country,  and  there  wasted  his  substance  in  riotous  living. 

And  he  went  and  joined  himself  to  a  citizen  of  that  country ;  and  he  sent 
him  into  his  fields  to  feed  swine. 

And  he  would  fain  have  filled  his  belly  with  the  husks  that  the  swine  did 
eat ;  and  no  man  gave  unto  him. 

And  when  ho  camo  to  himself,  he  said,  how  many  hired  servants  of  my 
father's  have  bread  enough  and  to  spare,  and  I  perish  with  hunger ! 

I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father,  and  will  say  unto  him,  father,  I  have  sin- 
ned against  heaven  and  before  thee. 

And  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son.  Make  me  as  one  of  thy 
hired  servants.— Luke  15 ;  11-19. 
i^.^/'e  have  a  thousand  reasons  for  gratitude  as  we  look 
around  us  day  by  day.  Oh,  how  many  things  have 
come  to  our  ears,  how  many  things  have  we  looked  upon  this 
day  that  caused  our  hearts  to  say  : 

Bless  the  Lord,  O,  my  soul !  and  all  that  is  within  me,  bless  his  holy  name! 
God  is  beginning  a  gracious  work.    The  under-currents  of 
the  last  two  or  three  weeks  are  now  bursting  up  in  all  their 
life-giving  and  fertilizing  forces. 

Thismorning,  at  the  consecration  nnieeting,  this  church  was 
full  of  men  and  women,  and  the  veiy  atmosphere  of  heaven 
surrounded  us.  Perhaps  all  the  hearts  present  realized  this 
was  the  house  of  God  and  the  very  gate  of  heaven  to  their 
souls. 

This  is  the  last  night's  service  we  hold  in  this  church.  On 
Sabbath  night— there  will  be  no  service  to-morrow  night- 
there  will  be  service  at  Dr.  Brookes'  church— Presbyterian 
Church  ;  and  the  meetings  go  on  at  night  there  next  week, 
and  I  look  for  and  pray  for  a  gracious  harvest  week.  I 
358 


The  Prodigal  Son,  359 

think  in  the  last  week  of  the  lN"ashville  meeting  there  were 
more  than  a  thousand  souls  born  to  G-od ;  in  the  last  week 
of  the  Birmingham  meeting  there  were  more  than  a  thou- 
sand souls  professed  faith  in  Christ;  and  I  feel  as  if  this 
work  just  beginning  will  manifest  itself  in  power  and  grace 
as  we  shall  go  on. 

Next  week  will  be  the  last  week  possible  for  me  to  be 
with  you,  but  these  earnest  preachers  will  take  up  this  work 
and  it  will  go  on,  and  I  steadfastly  believe  that  these  are 
the  beginnings  of  meetings  that  shall  bring  thousands  of 
souls  to  Christ.  God  grant  it,  and  we  all  say  "Amen!'' 
and  '^Amen!" 

We  invite  your  prayerful  attention  to-night  to  the  very 

familiar  lesson,  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son. 

And  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son.  Make  me  as  one  of  thy 
hired  servants. 

HIRED   SERVANTS. 

That  boy  made  a  mistake  right  there.  I  am  glad  his  fa- 
ther corrected  it  afterwards. 

Make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired  servants. 

There  are  no  hired  servants  in  the  kingdom  of  the  pa- 
tience of  Jesus  Christ.  After  that  boy  had  gone  home  and 
his  father  had  made  a  hired  servant  out  of  him  and  given  him 
$20  a  month  as  afield  hand,  he  would  have  been  stealing 
something  before  he  had  been  there  ten  days  with  his  father. 
I  am  glad  his  father  saw  proper  to  correct  that  fatal  error  in 
that  boy's  mind.  There  are  too  many  hired  servants  around 
in  the  kingdom  of  Christ  now,  on  the  outer  edges,  hanging 
on  for  the  loaves  and  fishes,  may  be. 
Make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired  servants. 

I  am  glad  to  see  a  man  get  to  the  point,  though,  where  he 
is  just  willing  to  be  anything.     There  is  a  good  deal  in  that. 

And  he  arose  and  came  to  his  father. 

But  when  he  was  yet  a  great  way  off,  his  father  saw  him  and  had  compas- 
sion, and  ran  and  fell  on  his  neck,  and  kissed  him. 

And  the  son  said  unto  him :  Father,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven,  and  in 
thy  sight,  and  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son. 

But  the  father  said  to  his  servants :  Bring  forth  the  best  robe,  and  put  it  on 
him;  and  put  a  ring  on  his  hand,  and  shoes  on  his  feet; 

And  bring  hither  the  fatted  calf,  and  kill  it;  and  let  us  eat  and  bo  merry; 

For  this,  my  son,  was  dead  and  is  alive  again,  was  lost  and  is  found. 

And  they  began  to  be  merry. 


360  The  Prodigal  Son, 

A   DIVINE    PARABLE. 

You  recognize  this  immediately  as  the  parable  of  the  Pro- 
digal Son. 

Some  one  said  that  this  parable  carries  on  its  very  face 
that  its  author  is  divine.  If  there  was  no  otherproof  of  the 
divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  this  parable  alone  vrould  entitle  him 
for  ever  to  the  name  of"  God-man!" 

This  is  a  wonderful  parable.  There  is  a  great  deal  in  it. 
And  we  propose  to-night  to  make  a  running  comment  on  the 
whole  parable.  And  oh  !  We  may  go  all  around  human  na- 
ture to-night — we  can  spot  ourselves  all  along  the  line. 

I  scarcely  ever  read  the  parable  that  it  don't  become  a  mir- 
ror to  me  that  reflects  my  whole  image  from  head  to  foot! 
But,  Lord  God  !  make  it  to-night  a  mirror,  and  in  that  mir- 
ror may  we  not  only  see  ourselves  prodigals,  but  may  we 
see  a  father's  outstretched  arms  to  save  us  ! 

THE   PARABLE   MODERNIZED. 

And  we  propose  in  the  discussion  to  modernize  the  para- 
ble, so  it  will  be  practical,  doing  no  violence  at  any  point 
to  its  truth  and  force  ;  we  shall  modernize  it  so  that  it  will 
be  practical  in  the  best  sense  to  us. 
And  the  first  line  here — 
And  he  said  :  A  certain  man  had  two  sons; 

And  the  j'ounger  of  them  said  to  his  father:  Father,  give  me  the  portion 
of  goods  that  falleth  to  me — 

And  immediately  the  father — 
Divided  unto  them  his  living. 

I  have  heard  preachers  get  up  in  the  pulpit  aud  say  some 
mighty  bad  things  about  this  boy.  Oh,  I  have  heard  good 
preachers  get  up  and  say  he  was  the  worst  boy  in  all  the 
neighborhood,  and  that  he  was  prodigal  and  dissipated  and 
wasteful  and  vicious. 

STANDING   UP   FOR   THE   PRODIGAL. 

I  don't  know  where  they  get  such  an  idea  about  this  boy. 
The  very  face  of  the  parable  shows  to  the  contrary.  The 
very  face  of  the  parable  shows  us  that  this  was  a  good  boy 
and  an  honest  boy  and  a  trustworthy  boj^  The  facts  in  the 
case  are  :  This  young  man,  being  the  younger  brother,  in  law, 
had  no  claims  upon  his  father  at  all;  had  no  right  to  de- 
mand anything;  the  elder  brother  inherited  the  fortune; 


The  Prodigal  Son.  361 

and  here  is  this  younger  brother  walking  up  to  the  father 
and  saying: 

Give  me  the  portion  of  goods  that  falleth  to  me. 

And  the  book  says,  immediately 
He  divided  unto  them  his  living. 

Now,  will  you  believe  me,  brother,  that  a  father  who  had 
sense  enough  to  accumulate  a  fortune,  or  a  father  who  had 
sense  enough  to  take  care  of  a  fortune  if  he  inherited  it — 
don't  you  think  he  had  too  much  sense  to  turn  over  a  vast 
amount  of  property  to  a  wayward,  prodigal  boy,  when  that 
boy  had  no  legal  claims  upon  it,  even  without  a  word  of  re- 
monstrance, without  a  word  of  hesitancy  or  a  word  of  ad- 
vice? If  the  young  man  was  a  prodigal,  the  old  man  was  a 
fool,  to  start  with. 

A   TRUSTWORTHY    BOY. 

A  certain  man  had  two  sons.    And  the  younger  son  said,  Father,  give  me 
the  portion  of  goods  that  falleth  to  me,  and 

Immediately 

He  divided  unto  them  his  living, 
showing  clearly  upon  the  very  face  of  the  parable  that,  up 
to  that  hour,  the  father  had  the  utmost  confidence  in  this 
boy.  That  father  had  reason  to  believe  this  boy  would  use 
this  vast  property  right;  that  that  boy  had  given  every 
evidence  to  his  father  that  he  was  trustful  and  worthy,  and 
that  he  would  do  and  be  what  his  father  expected  him  to  be. 

He  divided  unto  them  his  living.  And  not  many  da3's  after  that — 
I  imagine  that  boy  was  very  busy  those  few  days  he  staid 
at  home.  He  was  gathering  up  his  flocks,  and  his  herds,  and 
his  camels,  and  his  horses,  and  his  servants,  and  whatever 
his  inheritance  was;  he  was  busily  engaged  gathering  all 
together. 

LEAVING   HOME. 

And  we  may  imagine  that,  after  all  preparation  had  been 
made  for  the  journej^,  and  all  his  inheritance  had  been  gath- 
ered together  (on  Monday  morning,  we'll  say),  he  drove 
his  immense  caravan  out  in  front  of  the  old  homestead  and 
gave  the  order,  "Halt  a  moment !"  And  this  grand  caravan 
was  brought  to  a  halt,  and  amid  the  neighing  of  the  horses 
and  the  bleating  of  sheep  and  cattle,  and  the  hum  of  servants' 
voices,  this  boy  stepped  to  the  front  gate  of  the  old  home- 


362  The  Prodigal  Son, 

stead,  and  walked  up  on  its  porch  and  took  his  father's 
hand  to  tell  him  "Good-by  !"  And  that  father  stood  with  a 
trembling  hand,  and  looked  on  his  second  born  son's  face, 
and  no  doubt  the  tears  trickled  down  his  cheek  as  he  told 
his  boy  ^'Grood-by !"  And  I  imagine,  when  he  turned  to  his 
precious  old  mother,  she  just  rolled  her  arms  clear  around 
her  boy  and  imprinted  a  hundred  kisses  of  love  and  kind- 
ness upon  his  cheek,  and  bid  him  "Good-by  V*  And  that  boy 
turned  his  back  on  house  and  home  and  father  and  mother, 
and  walked  out  to  the  front  and  gave  the  order,  *'Move  off!" 

MOVING    OFF. 

And  on  they  moved,  and  on  they  moved,  until  the  sun  was 
going  down ;  and  now,  here  is  a  beautiful  place  to  spend  the 
night.  They  pitched  their  tents,  fed  their  stock,  provided 
for  themselves  and  all  the  company,  and,  weMl  say,  about 
nine  o'clock,  this  young  man  retired,  and  as  he  pillowed  his 
head  and  looked  up  at  the  heavens  that  were  sprinkled  with 
stars  like  a  swarm  of  golden  bees,  that  boy  thought  to  him- 
self: *'Well,  this  is  the  first  night  I  have  ever  spent  out  from 
under  the  roof  of  the  old  homestead.  This  is  the  first  night 
I  have  ever  spent  away  from  home.  This  is  the  first  night 
I  have  ever  been  from  beneath  my  mother's  voice  and  my 
mother's  audible  prayers." 

THE   FIRST   night's    MISTAKE. 

I  have  wished  many  a  time  in  my  heart  that  that  boy,  on 
that  first  night,  before  he  went  to  sleep,  had  made  up  his  mind, 
"By  the  grace  of  God,  I  will  right  about  in  the  morning  and 
go  back  home." 

Oh,  me  !  If  he  had  done  that,  how  many  heartaches  he 
would  have  shunned  !  How  much  trouble,  and  care,  and  pain 
he  would  have  avoided,  if  he  had  just  gone  back  the  next 
day.  And  when  the  sun  had  gone  down  the  •second  day  he 
would  be  back  home,  where  mother  and  father  and  home 
and  peace  was,  and  he  could  have  said  in  time  and  eternity, 
''I  never  spent  but  one  night  from  under  the  roof  of  the  old 
homestead." 

But,  instead  of  that,  he  slept  through  the  night,  and  in  the 
morning  orders  were  given,  and  off  they  drove;  and  on  they 
drove  until  the  second  night.  And  the  same  scene  is  re- 
peated.    The  boy  retires.     And^  T  have  thought  to  myself. 


The  Prodigal  Son.  863 

^^  Well,  old  fellow,  you  made  a  mistake  in  not  deciding 
the  question  last  night;  wish  you'd  decide  it  to-night,  and 
say :  ^  By  the  grace  of  God,  in  the  morning,  as  soon  as  the 
sun  rises  on  this  old  world,  I'll  right  about  and  go  back 
home.'  "  If  he  had  said  that,  he  would  not  have  been  but 
three  nights  from  under  the  roof  of  the  old  homestead. 
When  he  had  traveled  one  day  and  camped  out  one  night, 
then  one  more  day's  travel  would  put  him  back,  and  he  would 
not  have  be^  out  but  one  night.  E'ow  he  is  two  days  away 
from  home,  and  he  must  necessarily  spend  four  days  travel- 
ing and  be  out  three  nights  from  home. 

MOVING   OFF  AGAIN. 

See  how  he  is  going  on  his  journey,  with  each  night  re- 
peating these  scenes  and  incidents,  along  until  Saturday 
night.  And  now  he  has  sought  and  found  a  beautiful  camping 
ground.  And  he  spends  the  Sabbath.  He  has  not  forgotten 
that  yet.  And  I  have  wished  many  a  time  that  when  the 
Sabbath  sun  arose  on  his  camp,  and  he  looked  on  its  beau- 
ties and  splendor  poured  down  on  him,  he  could  have  said  to 
himself;  ''This  is  the  first  time  the  Sabbath's  sun  ever  arose 
on  me  away  from  my  father  and  mother  and  home."  I  have 
wished,  as  he  looked  on  the  light  of  that  sun,  and  enjoyed  the 
benedictions  of  that  Sabbath — with  all  day  to  think,  and  all 
day  to  ponder,  and  all  day  to  pray — I  have  wished  that  that 
boy  had  come  to  the  conclusion,  ''  The  best  thing  I  can  do  is 
to  go  back  home."  I  have  wished  that  night,  as  he  retired 
and  was  thinking  about  home  and  father  and  peace  and 
plenty,  he  had  said,  "  This  is  the  first  Sabbath  I  ever  spent 
from  home,  and,  by  the  grace  of  God,  I'll  right  about  to-mor- 
row morning,  I'll  go  back  home;  when  the  next  Sabbath's 
sun  shall  rise  it  shall  rise  on  me  under  the  roof  of  the  old 
homestead." 

WHAT    MIGHT   HAVE    BEEN. 

If  that  boy  had  said  that,  oh,  how  many  heartaches  he 
would  have  shunned,  how  many  tears,  how  much  fearful  an- 
guish, and  how  much  disgrace — how  much  that  boy  would 
forever  have  shunned  if  he  had  started  back  home  next 
morning. 

But  on  he  drives,  on  he  drives;  and  we  imagine  at  the  end 
of  the  second  week  ho  drives  into  a  beautiful,  fertile  country. 


364  The  Trodigal  Son. 

Its  very  trees,  its  hills,  its  valleys,  its  springs,  its  flowers,  are 
all  a  charm  to  him;  and  as  he  looks  upon  the  scene  he  says, 
''  I  believe  I  will  look  me  out  a  beautiful  plantation  in  this 
settlement  and  buy  and  settle." 

But  as  he  thought  about  it  a  little  he  said  to  himself: 
''Well,  if  I  had  aplantation  here  and  settled  down  I  wouldn't 
be  here  a  month  until  father  and  mother  would  be  driving  up 
here  and  interfering  with  my  plans  and  disarranging  my  pro- 
gramme, and  the  fact  of  the  business  is  that  th«  only  reason 
why  I  wanted  to  take  my  part  of  my  inheritance  was  that 
I  might  go  off  into  some  other  country  and  manage  at  will, 
and,  after  I  had  arranged  it  perfectly,  then  I  could  bring 
father  and  mother  into  the  secret  of  my  success." 

OF    COURSE,    HE    MEANT    HONESTLY. 

That  boy  was  just  as  honest  in  that  as  that  man  back  there. 
When  he  was  a  moderate  drinker  he  was  just  as  honest  that 
he  would  never  be  a  drunkard  as  he  was  that  he  breathed. 
That  boy  was  honest.  Nothing  vicious  in  him.  Law,  me! 
He  had  everything  in  his  mind.  He  had  all  that  plantation 
in  his  mind,  and  he  had  the  most  beautiful  residencCj  and 
everything  was  just  a  perfect  picture  in  his  mind;  and  he 
started  out  to  fulfill  that  picture  and  bring  it  into  actual 
facts. 

And  on  he  drove  until,  I  imagine,  about  the  next  week  he 
drives  into  another  fertile  country,  and  looking  on  the  right 
and  on  the  left,  he  says:  "Well,  here  is  another  beautiful 
section;  I  believe  I  will  buy  and  settle  down  right  here." 
But  maybe  the  thought  occurred  to  him,  "There  is  a  post  of- 
fice here  in  this  settlement,  and  I  won't  he  here  two  weeks 
until  I  get  a  letter  from  mother  telling  me  how  to  do  every- 
thing; and  father,  he'll  write  a  great  long  letter,  and  he  has 
got  a  whole  lot  of  advice  to  give  me;  and,  the  fact  of  the 
business  is,  I  don't  want  any  advice  from  the  old  folks.  If  I 
had  wanted  their  advice  I'd  have  bought  a  farm  next  to  them; 
but  I  want  to  be  somebody,  and  I  want  to  do  something,  and 
I  will  make  the  old  folks  proud  some  day  to  have  me  call 
them  father  and  mother." 

WANTED    TO    BE    SOMEBODY. 

And  he  wanted  to  be  somebody,  and  on  he  drove,  and  on 
he  drove — and  what  does  the  book  say? 


The  Prodigal  Son.  365 

And  he  went  into  a  far  country,  and  after  reaching  that 
far  country  he  bought  a  half  million  acres  of  beautiful  land, 
built  him  a  magnificent  residence,  and  was  king  and  lord  of 
all  of  that  country  ? 

]S"o,  it  doesnH  say  that.  It  says  that  in  that  far  country 
he 

Wasted  liis  substance  with  riotous  living.    And  when  he  had  spent  all 
there  arose  a  mighty  famine  in  that  land. 

And  I  will  tell  you  another  thing  about  this  boy. 

He  moved  off  in  style.  I  imagine  that  the  natives  all 
along  the  line  of  route  he  pursued  were  astonished  at  his 
pageant  and  his  caravan.  I  imagine  that  when  they  met  at 
the  different  places  in  the  community  there,  for  the  next 
month  that  was  the  subject  of  conversation.  ^^  Who  was  that 
man  that  passed  ?  Did  }■  ou  see  that  magnificent  young  man 
and  his  troop  and  train  as  they  marched  along?"  Why,  it 
was  the  talk  of  the  neighborhood. 
• 

HE  WAS  NO  PAUPER. 

I  imagine  if  that  young  man  stopped  at  a  place  and  spent 
a  night  in  a  residence  while  the  camp  was  around  him,  I 
imagine,  next  morning,  when  he  asked  what  his  bill  was,  and 
the  kind  host  said,  "I  don't  charge  you  a  cent,  sir,"  he 
would  have  said:  ''  Oh,  sir,  I  am  no  pauper;  just  give  me 
your  bill.  You  can't  insult  me  by  giving  me  a  night's  lodg- 
ing !" 

MOVING  IN  STYLE. 

And  on  he  moved — and  he  moved  in  style,  too  !  And  I 
imagine,  if  cash  got  a  little  scarce  with  him,  he  could  sell  a 
servant,  you  know,  or  sell  a  lot  of  camels.  Why,  there  was 
no  need  that  he  should  be  a  pauper  as  he  moved  off  in  his 
magnificence.  And  on  he  moved,  and  on  he  moved.  And 
when  he  got  to  that  far-off  country  he  spent  the  last  dollar 
of  his  inheritance  in  riotous  living. 

And  when  he  had  spent  all,  there  arose  a  mighty  famine  in  that  land. 

Did  you  ever  notice  how  scarce  everything  was  when  you 
didn't  have  any  yourself?  Why,  there's  a  fearful  money 
panic  all  over  this  country  when  a  fellow  hasn't  got  a 
dollar  in  the  world  himself  and  can't  get  a  dollar.  Oh,  me! 
It  is  astonishing  how  a  whole  neighborhood  can  run  out 
of  a  certain  article  at  one  time.     Did  you  ever  notice  it? 


366  The  Prodigal  Son. 

And  when  he  had  spent  all,  there  arose  a  mighty  famine  in  that  land. 
DID  YOU  EVER  NOTICE  IT  ? 

Mister,  havenHyou  noticed  many  a  time  at  your  house  that 
flour,  and  sugar,  and  coffee,  and  pepper,  and  salt  and  soda  just 
gave  out  at  once — did  you  ever  notice  that? — and  you  just 
had  to  take  the  ground  start  at  provisions?  And  what  a 
clamoi' there  would  have  been  at  j^our  house,  if  you  hadn't 
the  w^herewith  to  supply  your  pantry  ? 

And  when  he  had  spent  all,  there  arose  a  mighty  famine  in  that  land. 

It  is  astonishing  how  when  a  man  has  plenty  of  money, 
everybody  will  take  money  to  him  and  ask  him  to  keep  it  for 
them. 

It  is  astonishing,  when  a  poor  fellow  hasn't  got  a  dollar  in 
the  world,  he  can't  get  a  dollar  in  the  world. 

Th^-e  are  hundreds  of  people  in  this  town  have  got  more 
money  than  they  know  how  to  use,  and  there's  five  hundred 
people  in  this  town  running  to  them  wnth  money  and  saying. 
<'Keep  this  for  me,  and  just  use  it  as  you  please  until  I  call 
forit;''  and  the  fellow  keeps  it.  And  the  day  of  trouble  comes, 
and  then  that  same  man,  under  financial  stringency  will 
break  and  go  down;  and  then,  brother,  these  same  people 
who  have  been  running  to  him  with  their  money  won't 
speak  to  him  on  the  sidewalk.  Why?  He  is  a  hog.  He  has 
spent  it.  When  a  fellow  has  got  plenty,  there  is  always 
plenty  around  him,  and  when  he  spends  all  and  has  nothing, 
then  it  looks  like  nobody  else  has  anything. 

BRINGING  THE  MATTER  HOME. 
And  when  he  had  spent  all,  there  arose  a  mighty  famine  in  that  land. 
Now  let  us  run  back  a  few  minutes  and  take  the  practical 
lesson  that  we  have  in  the  text.  Every  boy  and  girl  and  ev- 
ery man  and  woman  in  this  house  to-night,  in  this  great  city 
to-night,  have  a  certain  advantage  in  their  life.  They  have 
looked  up  into  the  face  of  God  and  said,  ''  Give  me  my  spir- 
itual heritage  that  cometh  to  me."  And  God  turned  overto 
us  our  spiritual  heritage.  What  did  he  give  us?  He  gave  us 
a  good  mother's  counsel,  a  kind  father's  advice,  a  good  moth- 
er's praj^ers,  a  kind  father's  love.  He  gave  us  our  Sunday- 
school  training.  He  gave  us  a  tender  heart.  He  gave  us  the 
precious  Bible  to  be  a  light  to  our  feet  and  a  lamp  to  our 
path.     He  gave  us  the  ministry  of  his  word.      He  scattered 


The  Prodigal  Son,  367 

the  seed  of  life  in  our  hearts.  He  gave  us  his  divine  provi- 
dence to  shed  its  glory  and  its  beauty  all  about  us  on  every 
step  in  life.  Oh,  what  an  inheritance  God  turned  over  to  ev- 
ery one  of  us  in  our  youthful  days. 

Give  me  the  portion  of  goods  that  falleth  to  me. 

And  he  started  off  into  a  far-off  country,  and  as  he  went  he 
scattered  all  his  spiritual  heritage.  "Mother,  give  nie  the 
Bible,  and  give  me  your  prayers,  a^d  give  me  the  influences 
of  the  Divine  Spirit,  and  give  me  all  my  spiritual  heritage, 
and  I  am  sure  I  can  do  well  with  it,  and  meet  you  in  heav- 
en.^' There  is  mother  sitting  back  there,  your  mother  :  God 
turned  over  to  you  your  memory  of  a  good  mother,  and  her 
prayers,  and  your  father's  advice,  and  the  word  of  God,  and 
the  institutions  of  the  Church,  and  a  tender  heart.  God  gave 
you  an  inheritance  that  would  make  an  angel  rich.  Where  is  it 
to-night? 

EVERYTHING  GONE. 

There  are  men  in  this  house  and  in  this  city  that  have 
thrown  away  the  memory  of  a  precious  mother's  prayers. 
Gone!  gone  .'gone!  There  are  men  in  this  house  that  have 
forgotten  their  godly  father's  counsel  and  have  thrown  it  to 
the  breezes.  There  are  men  in  this  house  whose  precious 
mother  gave  them  the  word  of  God  and  said  :  My  son,  make 
this  book  the  mainstay  of  your  life.  Where  is  the  Bible  your 
mother  gave  you?  Gone!  gone!  gone!  forever  gone!  Where 
is  the  tender  heart  of  your  youthful  days  that  God  turned 
over  to  you  as  a  spiritual  heritage?  Gone!  gone!  gone! 
Scattered  in  your  prodigality;  and  all  you  have  to  show  for 
it  is  a  heart  as  hard  as  adamant,  that  God's  word  and  power 
can  never  penetrate  again.  Oh,  where  are  the  blessed  in- 
structions of  the  Sabbath-school  ?  Gone!  gone!  forever  gone! 
You  have  scattered  them  along  the  wayside.  You  have  spent 
them.     You  have  spent  them  all ! 

And  when  he  had  spent  all,  there  arose  a  mighty  famine  in  that  land. 

Now,  sir,  you  may  take  a  character  who  has  spent  his  all 
in  riotous  living,  and  to  that  man  there  is  nothing  left.  You 
can  turn  to  that  poor  wretched  man  and  say,  "  There  is  a  Bi- 
ble," and  he  will  reply.  "It  is  not  my  Bible.  It  was  mine 
once  ;  it  is  not  mine  now.  It  is  sacrilege  for  me  to  put  my 
hands  upon  it." 


368  The  Prodigal  Son. 

"  Well,  remember  your  precious  mother. 

^' Oh,  my  mother  !  Oh,  my  precious  mother;  she  has  ceased 
to  sing, 

Oh,  where  is  my  wandering  boy  to-night." 

"My  mother  has  forgotten  me  in  my  wild,  godless  life/' 

I  ask  that  man,  "Where  are  the  precious  Sabbath-school 
lessons  and  your  faith  ?  "  And  he  says  :  "I  have  forgotten 
them  all.  I  have  scattered  them  to  the  winds  in  my  dissipa- 
tion." I  say  to  that  man,  "Where  are  the  kind  and  good 
words  of  your  good  father?''  They  are  all  forgotten;  and 
oh,  the  infinite  misery  and  desolation  and  want  of  the  soul 
that  has  no  Bible,  that  has  no  precious  mother's  memory,  no 
father's  advice,  and  no  blessed  influences  of  his  youthful 
days  left  to  him.  All  gone  forever!  He  had  spent  all  in 
riotous  living. 

A   STORY   OP   RUM. 

A  presiding  elder  in  our  Conference  told  me  that  at  the 
same  college  from  which  he  graduated,  and  belonging  to  the 
same  class,  there  was  a  young  man  who  entered  the  college 
with  him,  and  they  graduated  together.  And  he  said  he  had 
not  met  the  young  man  for  fifteen  years.  He  said:  "Down 
in  my  district,  one  day  I  was  going  along  in  a  buggy.  I 
passed  a  grocery  in  a  country  place,  and  just  as  I  was  driv- 
ing past,  a  pale,  haggard,  unsteady,  nervous,  wretched,  rag- 
ged, desolate  man  walked  out  of  that  grocery;  and  as  I 
passed  along  he  caught  up  with  me,  and  ran  to  my  buggy, 
and  said:  *How  do  you  do?  You  don't  know  me;  but  we 
graduated  in  the  same  class,  and  we  joined  the  Church  the 
same  night.  I  lived  right  for  a  while,  but  got  into  bad  com- 
pany, commenced  to  dissipate,  and  went  from  bad  to  worse. 
1  have  been  on  a  four-weeks'  spree  now;  and  I  am  almost 
in  a  fit  of  delirium  tremens  this  moment;'  and  he  added,  'I 
want  to  give  you  this  incident:  I  just  walked  into  that  gro- 
cery, and  when  I  walked  in  and  called  for  a  drink  to  steady 
my  nerves,  I  could  not  pour  it  out  of  the  bottle  into  a  glass, 
my  nerves  were  so  unsteady.  The  barkeeper  poured  it  out, 
and  I  took  it  in  both  my  hands  and  carried  it  to  my  lips; 
but  while  I  was  holding  the  tottering  glass  to  my  lips  I  felt 
my  good  old  mother's  hand  come  down  on  my  head;  and 
she  said : 


The  Prodigal  Son.  369 

Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep, 
I  pray  the  Lord  iny  soul  to  keep. 
If  I  should  die  before  I  wake, 
I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  take. 

A   SAD   ENDING. 

*'  'I  dropped  that  glass  out  of  my  hands,  and  was  just  walk- 
ing out  of  that  grocery  when  you  came  along.'" 

That  precious,  good  old  mother,  she  followed  her  boy 
right  down  to  the  gates  of  hell,  and  put  her  hand  on  his 
head.. 

He  said,  ^'Mother  has  been  in  heaven  twenty  years,  but 
she  just  put  her  hand  on  me  as  she  did  when  she  was  living.'' 

And  that  man  went  on  drinking  and  drinking  that  day  in 
that  grocery;  and  he  was  carried  out  a  corpse  that  night, 
gone  forever! 

A  spiritual  heritage.  Oh,  I  may  waste  money  and  stocks 
and  bonds  and  thousands  of  investments  that  wealth  and 
father  may  turn  over  to  me,  and  I  am  left  a  financial  bank- 
rupt, and  die  a  financial  bankrupt;  yet  I  may  not  be  eter- 
nally ruined.  But  if  by  prodigality  and  wickedness  and 
wastefulness  a  man  ruthlessly  throws  away  his  mother's 
Bible,  his  mother's  counsels,  his  father's  advice,  his  tender 
heart,  and  all  the  blessed  recollections  of  his  early  years, 
and  scatters  them  to  the  breeze,  there  is  an  eternal  bankrupt 
that,  in  the  very  appearance  of  his  condition,  makes  the 
angels  tremble  and  good  men  weep  over  the  eternal  bank- 
ruptcy of  the  soul.     All  gone  I  All  gone! 

GETTING  BACK  TO  THE  TEXT. 

And  now  wo  take  up  the  lesson,  and  we  shall  hurry 
through  as  fast  as  we  can.  Oh,  brothers,  let  us  get  practical 
lessons  to-night,  if  it  does  take  a  little  more  time  than  usual. 
Let  us  see  if  we  jjannot  get  some  light  that  will  make  us  bet- 
ter, wiser  and  purer  people  in  the  days  to  come. 

And  when  he  had  spent  all,  there  arose  a  mighty  famine  in  that  land,  and 
he  began  to  be  in  want. 

It  is  said  hunger  knows  no  law. 
And  he  began  to  be  in  want. 

The  very  object  of  the  devil,  brother,  is  to  strip  us  of 
every  vestige,  and  then  make  us  lie  and  steal  and  do  a  thou- 
sand things  to  get  subsistence  to  live  upon.     The  devil  made 


370  The  Prodigal  Son. 

that  young  clerk  a  few  months  ago  steal  money  to  ride  his 
girl  about,  and  to  pay  theater  bills,  and  to  spend  in  Louisi- 
ana State  Lottery  tickets,  until  that  young  man  had  absolute- 
ly wasted  his  life  in  extravagance  ;  and  finally,  when  the 
Sheriff  took  hold  of  him,  the  devil  turned  round,  walked  off 
from  him  and  left  him  in  despair.  It  is  astonishing  how  men 
can  have  anything  to  do  with  the  devil  after  they  learn  his 
infinite  meanness  one  time. 

And  when  he  had  spent  all,  and  the  famine  came  on  him, 
hebegan  to  be  in  want;  and  want  knows  no  law — no  law  of 
respectability,  no  law  of  morality.     He  began  to  be  in  want, 
and  bound  himself  to  a  citizen  of  that  country. 
And  he  sent  him  into  his  fields  to  feed  swine. 

He  was  a  Jew,  you  recollect. 

I  reckon  that  was  about  as  low  down  as  any  Jew  ever  did 
get. 

And  be  sent  him  into  his  fields  to  feed  swine. 

A  Jew  don't  have  much  afiinity  for  a  live  or  dead  hog,  and 
I  am  about  nine-tenths  Jew  myself  on  that  line.  I  think  that 
there  is  a  good  deal  in  the  old  adage,  the  statement  that  the 
more  hog  meat  we  eat,  the  more  we  get  like  a  hog  intellect- 
ually ;  and  there  may  be  something  in  it,  as  far  as  I  know. 

EATING   WHAT   YOU   FEED    TO    OTHERS. 
And  he  sent  him  into  his  fields  to  feed  swine. 

And  then  what  ? 
He  would  fain — 

Listen  !  He  would  have  been  delighted  if  he  could  have 
received  enough  of  the  husks  upon  which  he  fed  the  swine, 
to  have  filled  himself.  What  did  the  devil  do  to  him? 
Put  him  to  feeding  swine  ?  What  did  he  feed  to  the  swine  ? 
Husks.  What  did  he  eat  himself?  Husks.  Did  you  ever 
notice  that  just  exactly  what  you  feed  other  folks  on  in  your 
meanness  the  devil  makes  you  eat?  Did  you  ever  notice  it? 
Here  is  abar-keeper  who  is  selling  liquor  and  making  drunk- 
ards, and  nine-tenths  of  bar-keepers  die  drunkard's  deaths. 
Just  what  you  poke  down  other  people's  throats  the  devil 
pokes  down  yours.  It  is  a  law  in  the  moral  universe  of  God 
that  is  as  inevitable  as  life  itself.  Here  is  a  man  that  gam- 
bles and  wins  money  ;  and  that  is  all  he  does  ;  and  the  devil 
will  see  to  it  that  he  raises  up  a  friend  forthat  gambler  whose 


The  Prodigal  Son.  371 

only  business  is  gambling  awd  winning  money;  and  every 

dollar  he  has  won  from  other  people  the  devil  makes   the 

other  gambler  win  back.     Just  what  you  feed  other  folks  the 

devil  makes  you  eat. 

And  he  would  fain  have  filled  his  belly  with  the  husks  that  the  swine  did 
eat. 

He  fed  husks  to  the  hogs  and  then  ate  husks  himself.  Here 
is  a  woman  whose  peculiar  business  is  tattling  through  the 
settlement  and  getting  up  difficulties  between  the  neighbors. 
The  first  thing  you  know,  every  neighbor  within  five  blocks 
begins  to  tattle  on  her.  Just  what  you  feed  to  other  people 
the  devil  will  feed  you  on.  Here  is  a  fellow  who  would  not 
pay  his  debts,  and  now  he  is  going  around  saying:  ''  I  can- 
not collect  a  cent;  I  would  pay  my  debts  if  I  could."  It  is 
astonishing  how  surely  this  law  of  the  moral  universe 
works.  I  believe  I  will  treat  my  neighbors  right.  I  want 
to  be  treated  right  myself.  I  believe  I  will  feed  others  on 
nobler  and  better  things,  because  I  want  nobler  and  better 
things  myself.     And  they  are  in  that  condition. 

A   DESPERATE    HUNGER. 
He  would  fain  have  filled  his  belly  with  the  husks  that  the  swine  did  eat. 
And  listen — 

And  no  man  gave  unto  him. 
And  now  it  is  said  : 

And  when  he  came  to  himself. 
Look  here;  what  was  the  matter  with  that  boy?  Was 
he  crazy?  Was  he  living  under  a  sort  of  mental  delusion? 
What  was  the  matter  with  that  boy  there  ?  He  was  from  the 
happiest  home  a  boy  ever  left — where  there  was  wealth  and 
love  ever  manifested  towards  him.  There  he  was;  he  had 
spent  all  he  had  ;  began  to  be  in  want ;  joined  himself  to  a 
citizen  of  that  country,  and  served  in  that  disreputable  ca- 
pacity.    One  day  he  came  to  himself. 

THE   INSANITY   OF    SIN. 

What  was  the  matter  with  that  boy  ?  Was  he  crazy?  Look 
here.  Right  there  in  this  parable  is  set  out  one  of  the  most 
fearful  truths  in  the  moral  universe  of  God.  Let  hie  say  to 
this  congregation  to-night: 

At  twenty-four  years  of  age  I  waked  up  in  a  moment  to  a 

24 


372  The  Prodigal  Son, 

living  consciousness  of  what  I  was  and  whither  I  was  going. 
My  life  from  that  moment  until  this  has  been  no  more  the 
same  life  I  led  before,  than  if  I  had  been  two  different  men. 
I  came  to  myself.  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  if  I  had 
been  clothed  in  my  right  mind  that  I  would  have  done  like 
I  did?  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  I  would  have  acted 
like  I  did  ?  Do  you  tell  me  that  if  my  eyes  had  been  open 
and  I  had  seen  as  I  ought  to  have  seen,  that  I  would  have 
gone  to  such  depths  and  lengths  as  I  did  go  to?  J^o,  sir. 
I  tell  you  to-night,  there  is  many  a  man  in  this  world,  to. 
whom  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  get  him  to  come  to  himself. 
There  is  not  a  man  in  this  whole  land  to  whom,  if  you  will 
just  show  him  what  he  is,  who  he  is,  and  where  he  is  going 
to,  you  will  not  need  to  do  anything  more.  God  bless  you  ! 
He  will  move  up,  and  move  out,  and  go  back. 
And  when  he  came  to  himself. 

Listen  how  he  talks !     He  talks  now  like  a  fellow  of  sense. 
I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father.    In  my  father's  house  the  very  hired  ser- 
vants have  bread  enough  and  to  spare,  and  I  perish  with  hunger. 

Oh,  it  is  a  good  thing  when  a  man  finds  out  he  is  hungry, 
and  then  finds  out  where  the  bread  is.  You  have  done  some- 
thing for  that  fellow  if  you  have  made  him  conscious  of  hun- 
ger, and  let  him  know  where  the  table  is  loaded  with  bread 
to  appease  that  hunger.     You  have  done  something  for  him. 

WHEN    HE    CAME    TO    HIMSELF. 

And  when  ne  came  to  himself  he  said :    How  many  hired  servants  of  my 
father's  have  bread  enough  and  to  spare,  and  I  perish  with  hunger. 

And  now  he  said  : 

I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father. 
"Yes!     But  let's  argue  that  thing  a  little,  young  man! 
How  far  are  you  from  home  ? "  • 

''  A  thousand  miles.'' 

"  How  much  money  have  3'ou  got  to  pay  your  way  back  ?  " 
<'Not  acent." 
"  Where's  your  shoes?'' 
"Haven't  any  shoes."  ^     ' 

"Where's  your  hat?" 
"Got  no  hat." 
"Where's  your  coat?" 
"Got  no  coat." 


The  Prodigal  Son,  873 

''A  thousand  miles  from  home;  not  a  cent;  coatless  and 
hatless  and  shoeless  !     Talk  about  going  home  !  " 

''  Yes,  sir." 

^^  What  do  you  say  about  it?'' 
I  WILL  arise  and  go  to  my  father. 

And  I  tell  you  when  a  man  says  that  he  goes  hy  telegraphy. 
He  is  there  now.  There  ain't  any  trouble  when  a  man  says^ 
that. 

I  WILL  arise  and  go  to  my  f\\ther.    I  will. 

Suppose  the  poor  fellow  had  done  like  many  of  us  would 
have  done — stopped  to  consider!  ^'  It's  so  far  and  I've  got 
no  shoes  to  walk  in,  and  I've  got  no  money  to  pay  my  fare 
by  any  route.  I  haven't  a  dollar  to  buy  a  crumb  of  bread 
on  the  way;  and,  the  fact  of  the  business  is,  these  clothes 
are  not  fit  to  go  home  in;  and  I  think  it's  very  doubtful 
whether  father'U  ever  let  me  in  there  any  more  or  not?" 
But  it  seems  the  only  fact  about  the  business  was,  when  you 
come  right  clean  down  to  it,  that  ''  I'm  perishing ;  and  here 
I've  got  a  father  whose  very  hired  servants  have  bread 
enough  and  to  spare.  And,  money  or  no  money,  shoes  or 
no  shoes,  hat  or  no  hat,  fit  or  not  fit,  I'm  going  back.  God 
helping  me,  I'll  start  back." 

SOMETHING   OP    A    DIFFERENCE. 

And  I'll  tell  you  another  thing.  When  that  boy  started 
back  home  there  was  a  wonderful  difference  between  him 
going  back  and  him  coming! 

Oh,  you  let  a  fellow  start  the  wrong  way,  and  he's  a  whale. 
And  if  there's  anything  bigger  than  that,  he's  that.  All  along 
the  route — magnificent. 

Why,  sir,  every  man  along  the  route  of  that  prodigal  boy 
had  to  be  just  as  particular  in  speaking  to  him  and  addressing 
him  as  he  could  be.  Why,  he  was  sensitive  as  he  could  be, 
and  he  would  get  mad  in  a  minute  with  anybody,  and  when 
that  good  old  fellow  wanted  to  give  him  a  night's  lodgings, 
he  like  to  have  got  whipped  about  it.  The  boy'd  liked  to 
have  jumped  on  him  ;  '^I'm  no  pauper,  sir!" 

But  the  boy  is  coming  back  now.  You  can't  hurt  his  feel- 
ings now. 

can't  hurt  his  feelings  now. 

Oh  me!  I  can  tell  which  way  a  fellow  is  going  without 
any  trouble.  I  have  had  wives  say  to  me  :  "  Brother  Jones, 


374  Tlie  Prodigal  Son. 

I  am  going  to  bring  mj  husband  to-night,  and  I  want  you  to 
be  mighty  particular  not  to  say  anything  to  hurt  his  feelings. 
I  had  him  out  once  before,  and  the  jDreacher  said  something 
that  hurt  his  feelings,  and  he  ain't  been  near  the  church 
since/' 

Do  you  know  what  I  say  ?  "  Throw  swill  to  the  hog  pen. 
That's  where  he's  going.  That's  where  he's  headed.  I  can 
put  the  hounds  out  and  trail  j^our  husband,  and  when  I've 
trailed  him  I'll  find  him  at  the  hog  pen.'' 

''You've  got  to  be  mighty  particular  with  my  husband  or 
he'll  get  his  feelings  hurt  and  never  want  to  come  back 
again." 

The  Lord  have  mercy  upon  us  !  Oh,  he's  moving  off  in 
style — in  grand  style  !  He  can  pay  his  own  way,  and  he  asks 
no  man  any  difference.  And  on  he  moves  !  But  he's  com- 
ing back  now  ! 

DODGING    FORMER    HOSPITALITY. 

I  imagine  when  that  boy  passes  the  magnificent  residence 
where  he  kicked  up  that  row  going  out,  and  where  he  was 
about  to  whip  a  man  because  the  good  old  fellow  wanted  to 
give  him  a  night's  lodging — when  he  saw  that  house  about 
half  a  mile  ahead,  he  got  over  the  fence,  and  left  the  road, 
and  took  to  the  woods  there.  ''I'm  going  the  other  way  now. 
I  don't  want  any  of  that  family  to  see  me." 

I  imagine  that  he  goes  on  until  night  overtakes  him,  and 
without  a  dollar  or  a  cent  in  his  pocket.  He  goes  backway 
to  some  poor  nigger  cabin,  and  he  says  to  the  good  old  ne- 
gro woman  :  "I  wish,  auntie,  you'd  give  me  just  a  little 
bread.  I  don't  ask  for  any  meat,  but  just  a  little  brelid.  I 
haven't  had  anything  to  eat  to-day.  And  I  haven't  got  a. 
cent  to  pay  you  for  what  you  give  me,  but  I've  got  the  best 
father  boy  ever  had,  and  if  ever  you  pass  by  my  father's 
house  you'll  never  lose  anything  for  your  kindness  to  his 
boy." 

He  takes  the  cold  pone  of  bread,  and  he  goes  on  a  little 
further,  and  turns  out  into  the  woods,  and  rakes  him  a  big 
pile  of  leaves,  and  shoots  down  into  them  and  sleeps  safely 
till  morning. 

And,  then,  in  the  morning  he  gets  up  and  strikes  out 
again  J  and  I  imagine  that  when  the  neighbors  gather,  one  of 
them  will  say: 


The  Prodigal  Son.  375 

*'Did  you  see  that  ragged,  dejected-looking  young  man  go- 
ing up  the  road  the  other  day  ?" 

^'Yes,  I  saw  him/' 

''Well,  I  think  his  face — there  was  something  about  his 
countenance  that  reminded  meof  that  fellow  that  went  down 
with  that  grand  pageant  a  few  years  ago/' 

''  Oh,  no  !  That  ain't  the  same  fellow.  I  saw  him.  He 
was  moving  in  style  !     This  can't  be  that  same  fellow."     • 

''  Yes,  but  I  tell  you  he  has  the  very  same  countenance. 
There's  something  about  his  eyes  that  made  me  think  it  was 
the  same  fellow." 

AS   ILLUSTRATED    FROM   REAL   LIFE. 

Look  here  !  There's  a  young  man  in  St.  Louis — mark  the 
expression  !  Twenty  years  or  ten  years  ago  he  was  the  pride 
of  this  city,  or  the  pride  of  this  State,  maj^  be;  the  pride  of  a 
fond  father  and  of  his  mother's  heart.  Somebody  left  St. 
Louis.  We'll  say  fifteen  years  ago.  Last  week  he  was 
back.  And  there  came  staggering  along  the  street  a  poor, 
besotted,  desolate,  ruined  wretch  ;  and  this  visiting  gentle- 
man, who  was  once  a  citizen  here,  says  to  his  companion: 

''Who  is  that  fellow?" 

"  Why,  that's  the  son  of  Col.  John  So-and-so.  Didn't  you 
know  Col.  John's  son  ?" 

"  Yes,  but  sure  that  can't  be  the  same  fellow.  Why,  the 
man,  the  one  I  used  to  know,  John  So-and-so,  was  one  of 
the  leading  business  men  in  this  community  !  Why,  he  was 
the  pride  of  the  city.  Why,  that  can't  be — this  vagabond 
and  dead-besotted  wretch — surely  that  can't  be  the  same  fel- 
low !" 

"  I  don't  care  how  he  looks.  That's  the  very  same  fellow." 

Oh,  me  !  How  sin  changes  a  man  in  this  world  !  Just  look 
at  the  features  of  the  man,  dwelling  upon  his  eyes.  As  you 
look  upon  him,  and  look  him  in  the  eye,  you  say,  "  That 
eye  looks  mighty  like  old  John's,  that  I  used  to  know;  it 
does." 

GLAD  TO  HAVE  A  NIGGER  PRAY  WITH  HIM. 

And  on  that  boy  comes,  and  on  he  comes  !  Look  here !  I 
have  seen  many  a  man  ;  I  have  talked  to  many  a  man  and 
woman  headed  the  wrong  way,  going  away  from  God,  and 
going  toward  hell,  and  they  insulted  me.     I've  said  : 


376  The  Prodigal  Son. 

'^  Well,  if  I  can't  do  anything  else  for  you,  Til  pray  for 
you." 

^'  Don't  want  your  prayers.     I  despise  your  prayers." 

Ah,  rae!  I  have  talked  with  them,  and  begged  and  plead- 
ed with  them  when  they  were  insulting  to  me,  and  I  have 
said  to  myself: 

*'  Old  fellow,  if  you  ever  turn  round,  I  want  to  meet  you. 
You'll  be  a  very  different  fellow." 

And  that  man  that  said  to  me  once,  "  I  despise  you,  sir,  I 
despise  the  gospel  you  preach,"  he  turned  around  one  day, 
and  he  started  back  to  God  and  right,  and  he  went  home  and 
went  down  to  a  poor  old  colored  man— a  good  old  man  he 
was — and  said,  "  Uncle  Tony,  I  wish  you'd  come  to  my  room 
and  pray  with  me.  I'm  the  most  wicked,  ruined  wretch  that 
ever  lived  on  the  face  of  this  earth."  He's  glad  now  to  get 
the  old  colored  man  to  pray  for  him  ;  and  don't  you  see  the 
difference  between  a  fellow  going  away  and  a  fellow  coming 
back  ? 

And,  my  friend,  I'm  getting  to  grow  hopeful  about  you 
when  you  come  to  yourself,  so  that  you'll  let  decent  people 
talk  to  you  about  your  meanness.  I'll  get  very  hopeful  about 
you  then.    I  will. 

IN  SIGHT    OF  HOME. 

And  on  this  boy  went.  I  imagine  that  if  a  mill-boy  in  a 
cart  let  him  get  up  and  ride  a  few  miles,  he  was  the  most 
grateful  fellow  in  the  world. 

And  on  he  would  go  ;  until,  one  day,  worn  out  and  weary 
and  desolate,  with  scarcely  power  to  make  another  mile,  all 
at  once  he  comes  up  in  plain  sight  of  the  old  homestead.  And 
he  takes  a  view  of  the  old  homestead,  and  as  he  looks  the  tears 
run  down  his  cheeks  in  penitence  and  sorrow;  and  he  says  ; 
''  Oh,  how  sorry  I  am  that  I  ever  left  such  a  home  i" 

And  he  looks  and  sees  the  cattle  feeding  in  the  meadow, 
and  sees  the  barns  well  filled,  and  sees  the  house  folks  as 
they  sit  on  the  front  porch,  and  sees  a  lovely  home  with 
peace  and  plenty.  He  stops  there,  I  imagine,  and  sits  down 
on  the  root  of  the  big  old  oak  tree  in  the  road,  and  gazes  to- 
ward the  homestead;  and  he  says  : 

^'  I  am  not  worthy  to  go  another  step  toward  that  home. 
If  I  can  just  die  here  now,  and  father  will  find  me  and  give 
mo  a  burial-place  in  the  old  family  burial -yard  back  of  the 


The  Prodigal  Son,  379 

house,  that's  the  highest  honor  that  such  a  being  as  lam  can 
ask/' 

And  he  sits  and  looks  ashamed,  afraid  to  go  another  step 
towards  that  home — what  does  the  book  say? 

THE  MEETING  OF  FATHER  AND  SON. 
And  his  father  saw  him  a  great  way  ofF. 

That  father  was  looking  out  toward  that  boy,  and  his  eyes 
saw  him  a  great  way  oif ;  and  they  were  eyes  of  mercy  that 
looked  at  that  poor  boy,  and  the  book  tells  us — 
And  he  ran  to  him. 

And  they  were  legs  of  mercy  that  carried  that  father,  and 
his  father  ran  up  to  him  and  spoke  to  him  ;  and  they  were 
words  of  mercy  that  that  father  had  for  that  boy.  And  then 
the  father  threw  his  arms  around  him  ;  and  they  were  arms 
of  mercy  that  encompassed  that  poor  boy.  And  then  his 
father  kissed  him  ;  and  they  were  kisses  of  mercy  that  that 
father  imprinted  upon  that  boy's  face.  And  the  poor  fellow 
turned  his  face  for  the  first  time  up  into  his  father's,  and 
looked  at  his  father's  benign  countenance,  and  said  : 

"Father!  Father!  I  am  no  longer  worthy  to  be  called  thy 
son.  I  have  sinned  against  heaven  and  in  thy  sight,  and  am 
no  longer  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son.     Let  me — " 

And  the  father  just  put  his  hand  right  over  the  boy's  mouth 
and  wouldn't  let  him  say  another  word  ;  and  then  said  : 

"  Son  !  Son  !  This  is  your  father  !" 

And  he  turned  to  the  servants,  as  much  as  to  say  : 

"  Don't  stand  there  gazing  at  my  poor,  ragged  boy  !  Go 
and  bring  a  robe  to  put  on  his  person,  and  bring  a  ring  for 
his  finger,  and-shoes  for  his  poor,  bleeding  feet;  and  then 
order  the  fatted  calf  killed,  and  let's  be  merry,  for  this  my 
boy  was  lost  and  is  found.     He  was  dead  and  is  alive  again." 

HE  HAS  BEEN  THERE. 

Blessed  be  God  !  How  that  reminds  me  of  the  grand  wealth 
that  God  gave  me,  his  poor,  wretched,  ruined  son,  fourteen 
years  ago.  Brother,  I'd  got  to  the  point  in  my  sin  and 
hunting  after  God,  and  trying  to  get  home  to  my  soul — I  had 
reached  the  point  where  I  saw  I  was  not  worthy  or  fit  to  go  one 
step  further  toward  God,  and  I  broke  down  and  said  :  *'  Lord 
God,  I  perish  forever,  because  I  am  so  unworthy."  And  the 
first  thing  I  knew,  the  arms  were  around  me,  and  the  words 


380  The  Prodigal  Son. 

of  mercy  were  whispered  in  my  ears,  and  the  gracious  Fath- 
er's eyes  were  looking  down  in  my  face;  and  I  have  been  as- 
tonished for  fourteen  years,  not  only  that  God  Almighty 
should  pardon  such  a  wayward  man,  but  that  God  Almighty 
would  ever  let  me  come  into  his  house  and  be  his  son. 

A   ROYAL   WELCOME. 

And  now  how  many  men  to-night  will  say,  ''I  will  arise 
jand  go  to  my  father?'^  There's  aroyal  welcome  waiting  you, 
brother.  You  feel  mighty  mean  to-day,  and  mighty  deject- 
ed, and  mighty  desolate;  but,  brother,  there's  a  royal  wel- 
come waiting  for  you.  The  angels  of  God  hover  over  you 
to-night,  and  when  they  can  hear  you  say,  "  I  will  arise  and 
go  to  Jesus, '^  every  angel  will  catch  up  your  words,  and  hur- 
ry back  to  heaven,  and  say 

The  dead  is  alive  and  the  lost  is  found. 

Friend,  let  us  go  back.  Gracious  Father,  I  thank  thee  ten 
thousand  thanks  that  there's  room  enough  in  the  divine 
homestead  to  take  us  all  in. 

Oh,  brother!  you  who  have  been  wandering  so  long,  let 
us  not  go  to  sleep  to-night  until  we  can  turn  our  heads  and 
consciences,  blessed  be  God,  in  the  way  back  to  the  old 
homestead,  and  live  one  more  time  in  the  land  of  peace  and 
spiritual  plenty,  and  we  will  abide  there  forever.  God  help 
us. 

We  are  going  to  hold  an  after-service,  and  in  that  after- 
service  we  want  to  spend  a  few  minutes  with  those  prodigals 
present  to-night  that  want  to  go  back.  That's  it,  brother, 
let's  come  back  to-night.  We  have  had  misery  enough,  and 
there  is  going  to  be  eternal  joy  to  those  who  will  come  in. 
If  there  is  any  Christian  brother  or  sister  here  that  enjoys 
religion,  and  you  are  willing  to  work  and  encourage  your 
friends,  you  stay.  If  there  is  any  sinner  here  to-night  who 
has  gone  off  from  God,  and  you  want  to  comeback,  you  stay. 
But  if  you  are  indifferent  and  careless,  don't  remain,  because 
the  service  is  specially  for  the  interested  and  for  the  Chris- 
tian people  that  want  to  be  useful  in  the  service  of  God. 
Now,  when  we  pronounce  the  benediction,  all  of  you  who 
want  to  go,  go,  and  all  of  you  who  will,  remain.  And  I  have 
prayed  God  to-night  that,  before  we  sleep,  hundreds  of  these 
prodigals  will  be  back  to  the  roof  of  the  old  homestead. 


^ERJVION   XXI. 

j]!0NgECP^/.T10JH. 


I  beseech  you,  therefore,  brethren,  by  the  mercies  of  God,  that  ye  present 
your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  unto  God,  which  is  3'our  reason- 
able service. 

And  be  not  conformed  to  this  world,  but  be  ye  transformed  by  the  renew- 
ing of  3^our  mind,  that  ye  may  prove  what  is  that  good  and  acceptable  and  per- 
fect will  of  God. 

For  I  say,  through  the  grace  given  unto  me,  to  every  man  that  is  among 
you,  not  to  think  of  himself  more  highl}^  than  be  ought  to  think,  but  to  think 
soberly  according  as  God  hath  dealt  to  every  man  the  measure  of  faith. — Ko- 
MANS  12 ;  1-3. 

GRADED    CHRISTIANITY. 

grs  we  look  round  us  in  the  Christian  world,  brethren,  we 
^1  are  forced  to  admit  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  graduated 
Christianity,  that  there  are  such  things  as  grades  among  the 
people  of  God.  Why,  some  members  of  St.  John's  Church 
are  just  as  unlike  other  members  as  they  can  be.  Some 
members  of  Dr.  Brookes^  Church  are  just  as  dissimilar,  and 
just  as  unlike  the  other  members  of  his  Church  as  it  is  possi- 
ble for  one  man  to  be  unlike  another.  What  a  difference 
there  is  between  people  with  the  same  hopes  and  the  same 
fears,  who  are  bending  their  steps  to  the  same  judgment, ac- 
countable alike  to  God  for  vain  and  idle  thoughts  and  every 
word  they  say.  What  a  difference!  Did  you  ever  think 
about  it?  That  man  sitting  back  there  says,  ^' My  wife  is 
better  than  I  am.  She  is  a  good  Christian.  I  am  not  much 
of  a  Christian.''  That  boy  says,  ''  Mother  is  the  best  woman 
I  ever  saw.  I  belong  to  the  same  Church  she  docs,  but  I  am 
not  much  of  a  Christian/'  I  do  wonder  if  there  is  such  a 
thing  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ  as  the  Lord  demanding  that 
some  of  us  shall  do  our  best  while  others  are  let  off  very 
easily.  I  wonder  if  my  Father  in  heaven  wanted  my  mother 
to  be  a  better  Christian  than  he  wants  me  to  be.  I  wonder 
if,  in  the  arrangement  of  his  divine  plan,  he  fixed  it  so  that 
381 


382  Consecration, 

my  mother  could  be  a  whole  ChristiaY*  and  me  only  a  piece 
of  one.  Ihave  thought  about  these  things.  I  have  thought 
whether  the  kingdom  of  Christ  reserved  for  my  father  priv- 
ileges which  helped  to  make  him  a  magnificent  Christian, 
while  I,  his  son,  can  enjoy  none  of  those  privileges. 

CHURCH   ECONOMY. 

In  regard  to  this,  I  often  think  of  the  good  old  brother  in 
the  Quarterly  Conference  in  our  State.  It  was  the  first 
Quarterly  Conference  of  the  year,  and  the  new  preacher  had 
only  been  in  two  or  three  weeks.  The  Presiding  Elder  pre- 
sided, and  when  the  question  came  up,  "How  much  has  been 
raised  during  the  present  quarterforthe  supportof  the  min- 
ister ?''  one  member  got  up  and  reported  from  his  Church, 
and  another  from  his ;  and  directly  a  good  old  brother  stood 
up  and  said  :  "Well,  I  have  been  wanting  to  see  the  preach- 
er, and  see  how  many  children  he  had,  because  we  want  to 
arrange  matters  just  as  economically  as  we  can  ;  it  is  a  hard 
time  among  us;  and,  up  to  this  time  I  have  not  raised  any- 
thing.'' The  Presiding  Elder  glared  over  at  the  old  broth- 
er, and  said : 

"Brother,  you  say  you  have  not  raised  a  cent?" 
"No,  sir,  not  a  cent,"  was  the  reply,  "up  to  this  time." 
"Well,"  said  he,  "how  would  you  have  it  more  economical 
than  that?     You  have  raised  nothing  up  to  this  time." 

And  I  have  many  a  time,  in  looking  at  some  people  who 
do  not  want  their  religion  to  be  in  their  way,  who  do  not 
want  it  to  become  burdensome  to  them,  who  do  not  want 
their  religion  to  affect  their  reserved  rights,  and  all  that 
sort  of  thing — I  have  looked  at  them  many  a  time  and 
thought,  how  would  you  have  your  religion  looser  than  it  is? 
What  more  privileges  would  you  ask  than  you  have?  I  tell 
you,  every  slack-twisted,  one-horse,  no-account  member  of 
the  Church  is  a  positive  damage  to  the  Church.  He  lowers 
the  standard,  and  would  let  down  the  kingdom  and  patience 
of  Jesus  to  a  plane  where  it  is  hardly  possible  to  distinguish 
between  a  man  in  the  Church  and  one  out  of  the  Church. 

"  BROTHER   SO-AND-SO." 

A  good  many  of  us  are  like  the  good  brother  they  intro- 
duced to  me  once  in  Chattanooga.  He  was  introduced  to  me 
as  Mr.  So-and-so.     "i¥"r.  So-and-so,"  I  said,  or  ^'Brother  So- 


Consecration. 


383 


and-GO?"  Ho  replied  himself,  ''Mr.  So-and-so."  The  next 
day  he  met  the  brother  who  introduced  him  to  me,  and  he 
said :  "Mr.  Jones  asked  me  whether  I  was  Mr.  So-and-so  or 
Brother  So-and-so,  and    I  told  him  I  was  Mr.  So-and-so,  al- 


*' How  would  you  have  it  tnore  economical  than  that?" 

though  I  am  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church.  But  I 
never  said  much  about  it,  and  there  are  not  many  people 
who  know  it,  and  I  reckon  I  told  him  as  near  right  as  pos- 
sible when  I  said  3fr.  So-and-so." 

We  have  let  the  standard  down  among  us,  until  really 
we  do  not  think.hard  of  people  who  do  a  heap  of  things  that 
are  wrong.  It  is  not  regarded  as  radically  wrong  here  in 
St.  Louis  to  play  cards,  or  to  dance,  or  to  attend  the  theat- 
ers. Why,  I  heard  a  preacher  say  yesterday  that  some  of 
the  iest  people  in  St.  Louis  attend  the  theaters.  Well,  I  de- 
nied it.  I  said,  "It  ain't  so,"  and  I  would  hate  very  much 
for  that  to  be  true.     Before  God  I  would. 


384  Consecration. 

WE   CAN  TOLERATE   MOST   ANYTHING. 

Oh,  we  are  getting  the  thing  down  now  to  where  we  are 
something  like  the  preacher  in  Georgia,  who,  when  he  held 
his  Church  Conference  and  called  the  list  of  members,  had 
the  members  answer  for  themselves,  when  they  were  pres- 
ent, and  when  they  were  absent  somebody  represented  them. 
And  he  called  the  name  of  an  absent  brother,  and  the  preach- 
er said,  '^  Well,  how  about  this  brother  who  is  away  ?  Where 
does  he  live?  What  sort  of  a  man  is  he?''  One  brother 
said  :  ''  I  know  the  man.  He  does  not  go  to  church  as  much 
as  he  might,  but  he  is  a  good,  clever  man/'  Another  broth- 
er got  up  and  said  about  the  same;  and  directly  another 
brother  got  up  and  said  ,  "  I  live  close  by  the  man.  He  is  a 
close  neighbor  of  mine.  Although  it  is  true  he  does  not  do 
his  whole  duty,  he  is  a  mighty  good  man,  and  there  is  only 
one  thing  that  can  be  said  against  him,  and  that  is  he  is  a 
little  inclined  to  be  quarrelsome  when  he  is  drunk.''  That 
was  the  only  difficulty  with  him. 

How  often  do  we  hear  it  said  :  ^'She  is  a  mighty  good 
woman,  but  she  goes  to  the  theater ;"  "They  are  mighty  pious 
people,  they  are,  but  they  play  cards  every  night;"  "They 
are  very  good  people,  and  there  is  only  one  thing  to  be  said 
against  them,  and  that  is  that  they  dance."  Oh!  how  we 
are  letting  down,  down,  down.  The  fact  is,  we  have  let 
the  Church  down  so  low  that  you  cannot  ditch  her  oif. 
There  is  not  fall  enough  to  ditch  her,  and  we  are  getting  in- 
to a  sad  fix  when  thatis  the  case.  A  good  lady  told  me  this 
morning,  "There  are  many  people  who  never  lived  in  the 
country,  and  the}"  do  not  understand  your  illustrations."  I 
am  not  responsible  for  3-our  ignorance.  They  are  very  plain 
to  me.     We  have  got  down  too  low,  that  is  the  idea. 

THREE    GRADES    OF    CHRISTIANS. 

ISTow  I  suppose  we  have  in  all  the  churches  about  three 
grades  of  Christians.  In  our  blue  Masonic  lodges  we  have 
what  we  call  Entered  Apprentice  Masons,  Fellow-Craft  ^la- 
sons  and  Master  Masons.  Those  are  the  three  grades  in  the 
blue  lodge.  Some  will  stop  at  the  entered  apprentice  degree 
and  never  go  any  further,  and  they  are  called  entered  ap- 
prentices. Others  pass  to  the  fellow-craft  degree  and  stop 
there,  and  then  they  are  what  we  denominate  fellow-craft 


Consecration. 


885 


Masons.  Others  rise  to  the  sublime  degree  of  master  Ma- 
son, and  they  are  called  master  Masons.  I  might  say  that 
we  have  three  classes  of  Christians  in  our  churches;  our  en- 
tered apprentice  Christian,  our  fellow-craft  Christian  and  our 
master  Christian. 

The  entered  apprentice  Christian,  he  is  the  little  fellow 
out  there  that  made  profession  and  joined  the  church,  and 
that  is  all  he  has  ever  done,  and  that  is  all  he  is  ever  go- 
ing to  do.  That  is  the  end  of  it  with  him.  I  used  to 
get  out  of  patience  with  these  people.  If  you  want  them 
to  do  anything  they  will  say  :  ''  I  never  was  called  upon  to 
do  that;"  and  they  would  not  advance  and  get  religion 
right.  They  will  say :  ''  Oh,  I  am  a  member  of  the 
Church,'^  and  then  get  on  the  other  side  of  the  fence  and 
remain  there. 

To  me  they  seem  like 
an  old  ox  in  a  hot,  dry 
lane,  and  he  just  lives  in 
that  lane,  with  the  beau- 
tiful green  pastures  on 
both  sides  of  the  road, 
and  all  the  grass  the  poor 
old  fellow  gets,  he  bites 
through  the  fence,  and 
he  gets  his  nose  rubbed 
sore  by  always  biting 
through  the  fence.  I  am 
always    sorry    for   those  "^^  ^^^  oa?  in  a  hot,  dry  lane:* 

old  oxen.  And  there  is  many  a  Christian  in  the  lane,  be- 
tween Christ  and  the  world,  you  know.  They  won't  go 
over  into  the  green  pastures  of  Grod's  love,  and  they  won't 
go  over  into  the  valley  on  the  deviFs  side.  They  are  what 
you  might  call  starvelings  in  the  land,  and  they  are  numer- 
ous, too.  ^ 

THE  ENTERED  APPRENTICE  CHRISTIAN. 

The  entered  apprentice  Christian.  ''  Oh,  I  have  made  a 
profession  of  religion.  I  have  been  baptized.''  And  thatis 
all  they  seem  to  know,  and  all  they  want  to  know,  about 
Christianity  at  all.  The  Lord  forgive  us  if  we  have  ever  had 
such  low,  groveling  ideas  of  Christianity  as  that.  Why,  bro- 
ther, just  think  a  moment.     Suppose  that  all  there  was  in 


386  Consecration. 

Christianity  to  you,  my  brother,  or  you  suppose  that  all 
there  was  in  it,  was  the  simple  fact  that  you  had  made  pro- 
fession and  joined  the  church;  and  that  was  the  end  of  the 
whole  matter.  Suppose  it  was.  I  declare  to  you  that  if  that 
was  all  there  was  in  it,  here  is  one  brother  who  would  hush 
his  mouth  and  never  try  to  make  another  convert  to  Chris- 
tianity. I  would  do  that  if  Christianity  was  simply  joining 
the  church  and  making  a  profession  of  religion. 

The  entered  apprentice  Christian.  They  are  the  little  fel- 
lows in  the  Church.  I  was  sitting  on  a  steam  car  one  day,  and 
when  the  conductor  came  round  and  took  up  the  tickets 
there  were  eight  or  ten  passengers  whom  he  never  asked  for 
any  tickets.  He  let  them  go  free.  They  were  the  little  fel- 
lows, two  and  three  and  four  years  old.  He  never  bothered 
them  at  all.  And,  I  think,  in  the  Church  of  God,  we  ought 
to  pass  these  little  fellows  and  not  make  them  pay  a  cent. 
Just  let  them  go  free.  The  only  way  you  little  fellows  can 
get  to  heaven  is  hj  hanging  on  the  skirt  of  some  good  old 
mother  and  making  out  that  you  are  one  of  her  little  child- 
ren.    I  do  not  know  how  else  you  are  to  get  in. 

NOT  FULLY  INITIATED  YET. 

There  is  a  little  fellow  just  twelve  months  old.  He  never 
walked  a  step,  and  you  know  it.  He  cannot  understand 
when  you  tell  him  anything.  He  is  mentally  and  physically 
incapacitated  from  being  of  service  to  you.  And  those  little 
fellows  in  the  Church.  They  only  join  the  church  and  make 
a  profession  of  religion.  They  have  not  the  physical,  or  at 
least  the  intellectual  ability,  to  be  of  any  account  in  the 
Church. 

Now,  I  grant  that  it  is  a  grand  effort  in  a  man's  life  when 
he  gives  his  life  to  God  and  joins  the  ranks  of  Christ.  Oh, 
that  is  grand  !  But  suppose  every  soldier  in  the  last  war  had 
gone  and  registered  his  name  as  a  soldier  and  sworn  allegi- 
ance to  the  army,  and  then  turned  round  and  gone  back 
home.  He  would  have  met  the  other  forces  with  a  ven- 
geance, would  he  not?  And  when  we  go  up  and  put  our  name 
down  on  God's  side,  and  swear  allegiance  to  his  cause,  and 
then  go  about  our  business,  and  say  :  "That  is  all  there  is  to 
it,"  it  is  just  a  question  of  census.  We  can  just  tell  how  many 
there  are  in  the  family  and  give  their  names.      That  is  all 


Consecration,  387 

there  is  in  Christianity.  Just  barely  the  taking  of  the  census. 

SHIPPING  CHRISTIANS  BY  MAIL. 

The  entered  apprenticeship  Christian.  A  number  of  them 
got  mad  with  me  once  because  I  said  that  if  I  got  an  order  for 
one  hundred  of  them  I  would  not  ship  them  by  freight  or  ex- 
press, but  I  would  put  them  in  a  paper  box  and  put  a  two 
cent  stamp  on  it,  and  send  them  off  that  way — these  little 
entered  apprentice  fellows.  It  would  be  foolish  to  make  them 
into  a  twenty-five  cent  package  when  you  could  send  them  O. 
K.  anywhere  for  two  cents.  But  I  reckon  I  shall  never  get 
an  order  for  any  of  that  sort.  I  never  heard  of  any  of  them 
being  of  any  account  in  heaven  or  earth. 

The  entered  apprentice  degree  comes  before  the  fellow- 
craft  degree.  You  must  take  that  step  first — profess  Christ 
and  openly  and  publicly  join  the  church.  That  is  the  right 
step.  But  do  not  let  that  be  the  end.  Let  that  be  a  step  to 
something  higher.  Well,  the  next  step  is  the  fellow-craft 
degree.  And  the  fellow-craft  Christians  have  notonlyjoined 
the  church  and  made  an  open  and  public  profession  of  relig- 
ion, but  they  will  do  some  things  very  readily  and  willingly 
when  you  want  them  to  be  done.  If  you  want  them  to  pay, 
why,  they  will  pull  out  their  pocket-book  and  divide  the  last 
dollar  with  you.  That  is  good,  too.  I  like  to  see  a  liberal  man. 
In  fact,  I  have  no  patience  with  any  other  except  a  liberal 
man.  I  never  saw  a  Christian  succeed  in  doing  much  that  was 
a  downright  stingy  man.  Now  we  have  what  we  call  fellow- 
craft  Christians  that  have  made  profession  of  religion  and 
joined  the  church.  They  will  pay  every  time  you  ask  them; 
but  if  you  say,  ^'Brother,  let  iis  hear  you  pray,"  they  say, 
'^  I  never  pray  in  public."  He  has  reserved  rights,  and  no 
man  ever  made  a  good  Christia^i  who  had  reserved  rights. 
''Some  things  I  will  do,  some  I  won't."  The  fellow-craft 
Christians,  when  they  feel  like  it,  will  do  anything  you  ask 
them  to  do;  but  if  they  don't  feel  like  it  they  won't  touch 
it.  Well,  if  a  fellow  has  got  no  brains  he  ought  to  let  his 
emotional  nature  direct  him.  That  is  my  judgment.  If  a 
fellow  has  no  intellectual  nature,  then  his  emotional  nature 
ought  to  run  him,  and  he  ought  to  keep  red-hot  all  the  time. 
But  if  I  have  any  brains  at  all  I  am  never  going  to  let  my 
feelings  run  me." 

25 


388  Consecration. 

PRETTY   LOW    GROUND   FOR   CHRISTIANS. 

When  our  child  cries  with  pain,  it  puts  its  hand  on  its  pain, 
and  we  hear  and  heed  it ;  and  I  reckon  that  when  the  Lord^s 
people  cry  they  can  put  their  hand  on  their  pain  and  cry. 
And  a  great  many  of  his  little  children  are  crying  from  the 
fact  that  they  will  be  damned.  That  is  about  as  low  a  ground 
as  you  can  afford  to  stand  on.  Some  of  us  are  crying,  "Lord, 
I  want  to  get  to  heaven."  That  is  the  object.  They  say, 
"I  will  take  care  of  myself  here,  if  the  Lord  will  take  care 
of  me  when  I  die.  Oh,  if  I  can  just  get  to  heaven  when 
I  die,  I  will  be  the  happiest  person  that  ever  lived  on  the 
face  of  this  earth."  They  are  fellow-craft  Christians.  Will 
do  anything  in  the  world  if  they  feel  like  it.  I  have  known 
Brother  A.  to  be  called  upon  to  pray  at  a  big  revival  meet- 
ing, and  he  would  pray  earnestly  in  a  big,  loud  voice.  But 
let  him  cool  off  a  little,  and  he  won't  pray  for  his  life.  He 
must  be  excused.  I  never  did  understand  that  a  good  Chris- 
tian could  do  at  one  time  what  he  could  not  do  at  another. 
I  never  could  understand  a  man  that  would  grow  beautifully 
less  all  the  time.  I  thought  that  as  Christianity  was  devel- 
oped it  grew  larger  and  stronger. 

FELLOW-CRAFT     CHRISTIANS. 

Fellow-craft  Christians  running  on  feeling — I  have  told 
them  down  South — with  all  due  respect  to  some  of  our  col- 
ored people  there — I  have  told  the  fellow-craft  Christians 
down  South:  "  If  you  think  feeling  is  the  best  thing  you 
have,  if  I  were  you  I  would  go  to  that  colored  church. 
They  just  shout  out  there,  and  fall  down,  and  almost  die 
shouting  with  feeling.  And  a  good  many  of  the  biggest 
shouters  never  raise  any  chickens  until  they  are  half-grown. 
And  if  you  are  running  on  feeling,  I  would  go  and  join  that 
church;  they  have  plenty  of  it  there." 

Feeling.  Sister,  I  run  on  this  idea.  If  a  thing  is  right 
I'll  do  it,  and  I  will  never  stop  to  ask  whether  I  feel  like  it 
or  not.  "I'll  do  it  if  I  feel  like  it.  If  I  don't  I  won't."  The 
most  efficient  sermons  I  ever  preached  were  when  I  felt  least 
like  preaching.  God  blesses  us  not  by  the  success  of  our  ef- 
forts, nor  by  the  spirit  of  bouj^ancy  that  actuates  us,  but  by 
the  efforts  we  put  forth,  whether  we  feel  like  it  or 
not. 


Consecration.  389 

THE   VALUE    OF   UNSELFISH   EFFORT. 

A  woman's  child  is  sick.  The  mother  never  stops  to  see 
whether  her  own  head  aches  or  not;  whether  she  has  rheu- 
matism or  not.  But  she  looks  at  the  interest  of  that  child 
and  cares  for  it.  And  so  every  Christian  person  ought  to 
look  and  see  what  the  claims  of  God  are  upon  him.  Yovl 
can  tell  the  fellow-craft  Christian  in  this  way ;  If  it  is  a  right 
pretty  Wednesday  night,  he  is  always  out  at  prayer-meeting. 
If  it  is  sort  of  dark  or  misty  or  rainy,  they  won't  come  out; 
they  are  afraid  they  will  take  cold.  There  are  a  great  many 
people  in  this  world  who  have  an  idea  that  a  church  is  the 
most  unhealthy  place  in  the  world.  "Why,"  they  say,  "I 
took  cold  there  one  day,  and  did  not  get  over  it  in  six  weeks." 
Look  here  !  I  have  been  going  to  church  two  and  three  times 
a  day  for  years,  and  did  you  ever  see  a  fatter,  healthier  look- 
ing man  in  your  life  than  I  am.  I  tell  you  it  is  not  church- 
going  that  makes  folks  sick.  That  ain't  it.  "If  it  is  pleas- 
ant and  everything  works  all  right  I  will  go."  Or,  to  put  it 
in  a  sensible,  solemn,  serious  way,  if  you  would  rather  have 
it,  there  is  a  man  physically  afraid  to  go  to  church.  Here  is 
a  man  going  to  church  three  or  four  times  a  day,  and  I  am 
a  stronger  man  physically  than  I  have  been  in  fifteen 
years. 

The  fellow-craft  Christian.  If  everythingis  fair  he  is  there. 
If  there  is  anything  in  the  way  he  is  absent.  "If  it  is  con- 
venient to  have  family  prayers,  we  will  have  them."  "If  it 
is  right  convenient  to  go  to  prayer-meeting,  we  will  go,  but 
if  it  ain't  we  won't."  "When  the  high-toned  Sister  So-and- 
so  calls,  we  play  cards;  but  when  ordinary  folks  call  we  tell 
them  we  don't  play  cards. '^  Don't  you  see  how  we  can 
make  our  religion  bend  to  it  as  fellow-craft  Christians? 
Well,  I  am  tired  of  talking  about  this  sort  of  Christians  in 
the  world.  But  a  fellow  must  be  a  fellow-craft  Christian  as 
he  must  be  an  entered  apprentice  Christian.  I  would  want 
to  be  an  entered  apprentice  Christian  about  sixty  seconds,  and 
a  fellow-craft  Christian  about  thirty  minutes,  and  a  master 
Christian  forever  and  ever.  A  master  Christian  forever  and 
ever  I 

THE    MASTER   CHRISTIAN. 

What  constitutes  a  master  Christian  ?  He  is  one  that  has 
presented  his  body  as  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  un- 


390  Consecration, 

to  God,  which  is  his  reasonable  service.  It  is  one  that  has 
not  conformed  to  this  world  in  any  way,  but  has  transform- 
ed himself  by  renewing  his  mind.  It  is  one  that  thinks  so- 
berly and  wisely  on  all  things  ;  one  that  loves  God  with  all 
his  heart,  and  loves  his  neighbor  as  himself. 

A  master  Christian!  Oh,  brethren  and  sisters, he  is  worth  his 
weight  in  gold  to  any  community  in  the  world.  He  is  wor- 
thy to  be  cherished.  He  will  do  what  he  promises  to  do. 
He  is  living  to  God,  and  to  duty,  and  to  every  good  word 
and  work. 

The  master  Christian  !  Now  letme  tell  you  :  The  entered 
apprentice  Christian,  as  an  entered  apprentice  Christian, 
can  never  be  a  master  Christian.  A  fellow-craft  Christian, 
as  a  fellow-craft  Christian,  can  never  be  a  master  Christian. 
The  master  Christian,  thank  God  Almighty,  can  never,  and 
will  never,  be  satisfied  on  any  lower  plane  than  that  which 
God  and  Christ  raises. 

Now,  I  wish  we  could  take  this  twelfth  chapter  of  Romans 
and  read  it  through.  There  is  not  a  verse  in  it  but  what  ties 
rightalong  on  to  the  discussion  this  morning.  There  is  room 
in  there  for  all  of  your  thought,  and  all  your  will,  and  all 
your  muscles,  and  all  jowv  desires.  If  you  take  that  twelfth 
chapter  of  Romans,  which  is  practically  a  plain  setting  forth 
of  Christian  duty,  march  out  in  this  character  and  look  for 
Jesus,  the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith. 

A   FAMILY   FEUD. 

I  was  once  preaching  in  a  town  of  one  thousand  two  hun- 
dred or  fifteen  hundred  inhabitants,  and  there  had  long 
been  a  family  feud  there,  which  had  involved  nearly  all  the 
family  connections.  It  went  from  bad  to  worse,  until  pistols 
were  used,  and  until  the  thing  had  gotten  into  the  most  cor- 
rupt shape.  Now,  one  of  the  principal  parties  was  a  wid- 
ow, whose  heart  and  life,  and  whose  children  were  involved 
in  this  fearful  difficulty.  While  we  were  sitting  in  the  church 
— and  the  first  time,  I  reckon,  for  months  and  years  that 
both  parties  were  in  God's  house  at  one  time — when  I  had 
finished  preaching,  the  meeting  was  thrown  open  for  talk. 
One  talked,  and  then  another  talked;  and  directly  this  wom- 
an stood  up  about  the  middle  of  the  house.  She  looked  at 
me  with  a  flush  on  her  face  and  a  sparkle  in  her  eye — and 


Consecration,  391 

she  was  one  of  the  most  intelligent-looking  women  I  ever 
met — she  looked  at  me,  and  dropped  her  finger  on  me,  and 
said  :  *'Sir,  if  there  is  a  woman  on  God's  earth  who  has  liter- 
ally lived  in  a  fire  for  years,  I  am  that  woman.  I  was  once 
a  happy  child  of  God,  and  how  utterly  miserable  I  have 
been.'' 

A    PLEDGE   OF   PEACE. 

And  now  she  said  :  ^'Listen  to  me,  sir — I  record  the  words 
before  the  judgment  bar  of  God  and  before  mankind — if  cru- 
cifying myself,  and  denying  myself,  and  giving  up  all  that 
God  despises,  loving  my  enemies,  doing  good  to  those  that 
despitefully  use  me — if  that  will  take  a  soul  to  salvation,  I 
am  just  as  good  for  salvation  as  if  I  had  stepped  inside  the 
golden  gates." 

Then  she  stepped  across  the  house,  and,  taking  the  hand 
of  herenemy,shesaid  :  ''To-day  I  bury  many  fathoms  below 
the  surface  of  the  earth  every  unkind  thought,  word  and  act 
of  my  life.  From  this  moment  what  I  do  shall  be  by  the 
faith  of  the  Son  of  God  that  loved  me  and  gave  his  life  for  me." 

I  returned,  and  saw  that  woman  twelve  months  after  that, 
and  she  said;  '' Blessed  be  God!  Twelve  months  of  my 
way  to  the  good  world  have  passed  without  a  disturbing 
ripple  or  a  darkening  cloud." 

Twelve  months  later  1  met  her  again  ;  and  she  said  :  '']!^ot 
a  cloud,  not  a  difficulty.  Just  swept  right  along  to  the  good 
world;  and  if  you  get  there  yourself  you  may  look  out  for 
me  ;  I  am  going  through." 

THE    SORT   OF    CHRISTIANS   WE   WANT. 

Dh,  the  soul  that  settles  all  these  questions,  that  will  deny 
and  crucify  himself,  that  will  give  up  the  world  and  all  that 
God  despises,  and  trusts  in  Jesus,  can  say:  ''That  will  take 
me  to  heaven  ;  I  am  just  as  good  for  heaven  as  if  I  was 
there." 

What  a  consecration  it  is  to  put  all  you  have  got  in  God's 
bank  and  say:  "  Now,  Lord,  there  it  is,  use  it!  Use  it  to  thy 
glory;"  and  then  turning  around  to  this  old  world  say,  "  All 
I  have  got  is  in  God  Almighty's  bank;  and  if  that  bank 
don't  break,  I  am  a  millionaire  for  ever.  I  will  trust  all  I 
have  in  the  hands  of  God."  That  is  the  sort  of  Christianity 
we  want. 


892  Consecration. 

But  you  say,  "I  have  for  months  and  years  listened  to  the 
voice  of  God,  and  may  he  direct  me;  but  sometimes  the  voice 
of  the  world  has  been  so  loud  that  I  admit  my  ear  has  been 
turned  to  hear  what  the  world  had  to  say.  God  forgive  me, 
I  will  not  do  it  any  more."  Listen  only  to  God.  You  can- 
not get  into  grander  and  deeper  water.  Let  us  say  now :  ''I 
will  never  listen  to  the  old  world  any  more.  I  will  listen 
only  to  Christ." 

THE   HARVEST  IN   STORE. 

I  want  to  say  to  you  this  morning  that  there  is  a  great  har- 
vest in  store  for  us,  if  the  Lord  can  only  get  us  in  time 
where  he  can  pour  down  his  Spirit  upon  us.  I  tell  you  an- 
other thing: — the  reason  I  know  Christianity  is  divine — 
If  Grover  Cleveland  had  gone  through  the  United  States 
denouncing  the  Democratic  party  and  the  members  of 
the  party  as  I  have  denounced  members  of  the  Church 
and  professors  of  religion  in  this  town,  he  would  have 
broken  his  party  all  to  pieces.  But  you  attack  religion, 
and  the  more  fuel  you  put  around  the  fire  the  more  it  burns, 
and  the  more  there  is  left.  Oh,  for  a  pure  Christianity,  and 
may  it  permeate  this  whole  city !  Oh,  give  us  the  sacred 
apostolic  Christianity  that  counts  all  things  but  loss  for 
the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 
Let  us  work  as  if  we  were  hired  to  work  our  way  to  heaven. 
Let  us  trust  Jesus  as  if  you  could  not  work  without  him,  and 
God  will  bathe  you  in  the  spirit  of  Christianity  and  bless 
you  for  it  your  entire  life. 


^EF(MON  XXII. 

^OWIJ^iq    AND    I^Ey^PIJMQ. 


Be  not  deceived,  God  is  not  mocked ;  for  whatsoever  a  man  sowefh,  that 
shall  he  also  reap  ;  he  that  soweth  to  the  flesh,  shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption. 
But  he  that  soweth  to  the  spirit  shall  of  the  spirit  reap  life  everlasting. — Gala- 
TiANS  6  ;  7  and  8. 

If  ET  US  heed  this  exhortation  a  moment — the  first  clause 
M  of  the  text : 
Be  not  deceived. 

THREE   ABSOLUTE   IMPOSSIBILITIES. 

We  say  there  are  three  absolute  impossibilities  in  this  life. 
There  may  be  a  thousand,  but  we  know  of  three. 

In  the  first  place,  we  say  it  is  an  absolute  impossibility 
for  a  man  to  continuously  and  successful!}"  practice  a  fraud 
upon  his  immortality.  The  price  God  puts  on  the  soul  is  too 
great  for  him,  the  author  of  the  soul,  to  suffer  me  to  practice 
a  fraud  upon  him.  If  I  am  a  good  man,  I  know  I  am  a  good 
man;  if  I  am  not  a  good  man,  I  know  it.  It  is  perfectly 
natural  for  human  nature  at  times  to  bring  to  bear  upon 
itself  the  flattery  of  its  friends  and  the  good  opinion  it  may 
naturally  hold  of  itself;  but  after  we  have  listened  to  the 
flattery  of  those  who  speak  to  us,  and  after  we  bring  to  bear 
all  our  self-pride,  thank  God,  there  are  moments  in  our  life 
when  God  breaks  the  silence  of  eternity  and  speaks  out  to 
us  in  unmistakable  language;  he  shows  us  who  we  are,  and 
he  shows  us  what  we  are,  and  he  shows  us  whither  we  are 
tending. 

I  am  so  glad  God  will  not  let  a  man  lie  down  and  sleep 
his  way  to  hell.  I  am  so  glad  that  ever  and  anon  God  will 
wake  humanity  up  and  show  us  exactly  what  we  are. 

ANXIOUS   FOR   FLATTERY. 

Poor  human  nature!     It  would  listen  to  the  flattery  of 
the  world — would  it?    It  would  bring  to  bear  all  of  its  self- 
893 


89-1:  Sowing  and  Reaping, 

pride  and  find  a  refuge  in  these  things;  but  God  will 
sweep  away  these  refuges  of  lies  and  show  us  what  we  are 
— in  spite  of  ourselves,  in  spite  of  our  friends,  in  spite  of 
earth,  in  spite  of  devils — God  will  make  us  see  ourselves. 
It  is  a  blessed  consolation;  if  I  am  a  good  man,  I  know  it. 
It  is  an  awful  condemnation;  if  I  am  a  bad  man,  I  know  it. 

It  is  absolutely  impossible  for  a  man  to  continuously  prac- 
ti-ce  a  fraud  upon  his  immortality. 

We  say  again  that  it  is  absolutely  impossible  for  a  man  to 
practice  a  fraud  upon  his  neighbor.  Now,  if  you  are  a  good 
man  your  neighbor  knows  it,  and  if  you  are  not  a  good  man 
your  neighbor  knows  it. 

can't  deceive  your  neighbor. 

The  Bible  tells  us  that  the  good  on  earth  are  like  a  city 
set  upon  a  hill  that  can't  be  hid.  The  Book  tells  us  that 
the  good  are  like  a  light  upon  the  candlestick  setting  upon 
a  table,  and  no  matter  how  great  the  darkness  the  brilliancy 
of  the  candle  shows  itself  to  all  that  are  in  the  room. 

It  is  a  delusion  of  human  nature,  of  human  kind,  that, 
"After  all,  I  am  not  so  bad  as  I  thought  I  was,  and,  after  all, 
men  don't  think  me  as  bad  as  I  am.'^ 

Oh,  what  a  luxury  in  human  experience,  the  consciousness 
that  *•' nobody  knows  me  just  as  I  am.  There  are  some 
things  that  are  covered  up  ;  there  are  some  things  that  no  eye 
ever  looked  at;  there  are  some  things  that  I  can  shut  the 
door  upon  the  world  and  say,  "  Thou  canst  not  enter  and 
see." 

deceives  nobody. 

But  after  all,  you  are  deceiving  nobody.  I  tell  you  what, 
if  you  dress  up  in  disguise  and  go  to-morrow  night  to  one 
of  your  neighbors,  and  sit  and  talk  with  him  two  or  three 
hours,  get  him  talking  about  you  and  get  him  to  spend  about 
an  hour  on  you,  he  wnll  tell  you  things  about  yourself  that 
you  didn't  dream  anybody  in  this  universe  knew  anything 
about;  and  your  property  may  be  for  sale,  for  aught  I  know 
you  may  say,  *'I  will  migrate;  I  thought  nobody  in  the 
world  knew  me  as  I  am.  Why,  that  man  told  me  somethings 
about  me  that  I  thought  were  buried  ten  fathoms  in  forget- 
fulness  and  ignorance." 

Oh,  me!  this  world  knows  us  as  we  are.     This  old  world 


Solving  and  Heaping.  895 

knows  preachers,  knows  official  members,  knows  the  little 
insignificant  members.  This  world  knows  you,  friend  of 
the  world,  and  what  you  are  and  who  you  are. 

No  man  can  successfully  and  persistently  practice  a  fraud 
upon  his  neighbor.     We  know  you. 
By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them. 

YOU   CAN^T   DECEIVE    GOD. 

Then  again,  no  man  can  successfully  and  continuously 
practice  a  fraud  upon  God. 

Grod  knows  me  through  and  through.  He  knows  all  about 
me.  He  knows  where  I  live.  He  knows  which  room  I  sleep 
in.  His  eye  is  upon  me  from  my  mother's  knee  up  to  this 
hour.  He  has  not  only  seen  all  the  acts  of  my  life,  but  he 
saw  the  thoughts  and  motives  behind.  And  God  knows  me 
through  and  through.  I  am  as  transparent  in  his  sight  as 
the  clearest  glass  you  ever  looked  through.  God  knows  me 
as  I  am. 

Be  not  deceived. 

First,  don't  suffer  yourself  to  begin  in  the  thought  that  you 
can  practice  a  fraud  upon  yourself.  Don't  suffer  yourself 
to  be  beguiled  into  the  notion  that  you  are  deceiving  your 
neighbor,  and,  above  all  things, 

GOD  IS  NOT  MOCKED. 
Be  not  deceived,  God  is  not  mocked. 
The  literal  every-day  translation  of  that  is  this:  ''You 
need  not  be  turning  up  your  nose  on  God  like  you  were 
playing  pranks  on  him;  heknowsyou  through  and  through." 
That  is  about  the  most  straightforward  and  practical  way 
we  can  put  that  sentence.  That  is  just  what  it  means, 
^'through  and  through." 

God  is  not  mocked.    For  whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap. 

TRUE   UNDER   ANY   CIRCUMSTANCES. 
That  text- 
Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap — 
is  true  whether  there  is  any  God  at  all  or  not;  that  text  is 
true  whether  a  man  is  immortal  or  not;  that  text  is  true 
whether  there  is  a  heaven  or  not,  or  a  hell  or  not ;  that  text 
would  have  been  as  true  if  you  had  found  it  in  Hume's  His- 
tory of  England,  as  it  is  true  found  in  the  word  of  God;  that 


396  Sowing  and  Reaping. 

would  have  been  as  true  if  Socrates  had  said  it  as  it  is  true 
as  God  says  it;  that  text  is  true  whether  there  is  anything 
else  true  in  the  moral  universe  of  God  or  not. 
Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap. 
This  is  a  common  platform  upon  which  all  humanity  are 
agreed.     This  is  one  of  IngersoU's  favorite  texts. 

A    COMMON    ACCEPTATION. 

No  matter  whether  he  he  Jew  or  Gentile,  whether  he  bo 
Christian  or  Infidel,  whether  he  be  Theist  or  Deist,  they  all 
meet  on  this  truism. 

Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap. 

I^ow,  this  is  true  in  the  physical  world  about  us.  This  is 
true  in  all  nature  around  us.  Whatever  you  sow,  that  you 
reap.  If  I  go  into  my  garden  and  sow  a  row  of  lettuce,  I 
don't  expect  anything  from  the  time  the  seed  drops  from 
my  fingers  until  they  are  gathered  for  the  table,  but  let'_>uce. 
If  I  go  into  my  field  and  sow  wheat,  I  don't  expect  any- 
thing but  wheat.  If  I  drop  corn  in  a  row,  from  the  tin^e  the 
furrows  cover  up  the  corn  until  I  gather  the  full  ear,  I  don't 
expect  anything  but  corn.     Whatever  I  sow,  that  I  reap. 

THE    MULTIPLYING    NATURE    OF    SEED. 

And  then,  again,  I  notice  the  multiplying  nature  of  the 
seed  sown. 

A  member  of  our  Conference  said  to  me  once — he  was  then 
stationed  at  Cedar  Town,  Ga., — that  in  the  spring  he  saw 
that  a  seed  of  oats  came  up  and  began  to  grow.  As  he  be- 
gan cultivating  his  garden,  he  said,  he  cultivated  around  it 
and  left  it;  and  it  grew  out  and  bunched  oif  until  it  matur- 
ed ;  and  he  said  :  "I  went  into  my  garden  and  pulled  up  the 
bunch  of  oats,  and  went  into  my  house  and  counted  the  seed  ; 
and  there  were  eight  hundred  seeds  of  oats  come  from  that 
one  seed  of  grain."  Now,  suppose  you  sow  in  the  spring 
those  eight  hundred  seeds  of  oats,  then  the  next  summer, 
you  have  forty  bushels.  Sow  those  forty  bushels,  then  you 
have  one  thousand  six  hundred  bushels,  sow  those  one 
thousand  six  hundred  bushels,  and  you  could  sec,  if  such 
a  thing  were  possible,  in  time  there  could  not  be  less  than 
this  world  one  hundred  feet  deep  in  oats,  all  cc/iie  from  a 
single  grain. 


Sowing  and  Heaping,  S97 

THE   ORIGINAL   SOWING. 

Oh,  how  that  reminds  me.  Away  back  yonder  in  the  Gar- 
den of  Eden,  six  thousand  years  ago,  Adam  dropped  one  lit- 
tle seed  of  sin  in  that  Garden  of  Eden,  and  to-day  this  world 
is  full  of  sin  and  full  of  woe.  Like  not  only  begets  its  like, 
but  we  know  it  is  the  multiplying  nature  of  the  seed  sown. 

Well,  this  is  just  as  true  in  the  moral  universe  as  it  is  true 
in  the  physical  universe.  Every  man  and  woman  in  this 
house  to-night,  you  carry  about  with  you  with  this  arm  a 
basket  of  spiritual  seed,  and  every  step  in  your  life  your 
hand  goes  down  into  the  basket,  and  you  are  scattering  the 
seed  to  the  right  and  to  the  left,  and  they  come  up  and  grow 
off  and  produce  and  reproduce  after  their  kind  ;  and  the  in- 
iquity and  the  nbominations  and  the  wickedness  of  St.  Louis 
to-day  follow  as  inevitably  from  the  seed  sown  the  past  few 
years  as  ever  effect  followed  cause,  or  water  runs  down  hill. 

When  I  would  know  the  moral  status  and  the  moral  life  of 
a  community  I  would  know  something  of  its  history — the 
previous  history  of  that  community.  If  you  will  tell  me  what 
kind  of  seed  have  been  sown  in  this  community  in  the  last 
twenty  years,  I  will  tell  you  what  the  harvest  will  be.  Just 
as  truly  as  if  you  told  me  what  kind  of  seed  you  put  in  the 
ground,  1  will  tell  you  then  what  sort  of  harvest  there  will 
be  in  the  field. 

Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap. 

Every  act  of  my  life  is  a  seed,  every  word  is  a  seed,  every 
deed  is  a  seed,  and  we  are  not  going  about  through  this 
country  scattering  these  seeds  in  these  valleys  or  on  these 
hillsides,  but  we  are  scattering  them  in  human  hearts,  and 
they  come  up  and  produce  and  reproduce,  just  like  the  seed 
we  sow. 

NO  RECALLING   THE   SOWING. 

And — and  then  fearful  thought!  When  once  a  seed  drops 
from  your  hand  it  is  gone  forever.  An  old  woman  went  to 
her  priest  and  confessed,  among  other  things,  that  she  had 
talked,  and  talked  unwisely  and  unscripturally  to  one  of  the 
neighbors,  until  there  was  a  furor  in  that  community  on  ac- 
count of  it ;  and  she  had  been  the  cause  of  it  by  her  tattling 
to  one  of  the  neighbors.  And  the  priest  said  to  her  :  ^'Now, 
I  give  you  as  a  penance,  as  a  punishment,  before  I  absolve 


398  Sowing  and  Heaping. 

you,  this  to  do  :  ^'  No  w  go  and  gather  a  basket  of  thistle  seed, 
and  go  in  the  pathway  between  these  neighbors  and  scatter 
to  the  right  and  to  the  left,  and  when  you  have  done  that 
come  back  to  me;"  and  in  a  few  moments  she  returned,  and 
she  said  :  I  have  done  as  you  bid  me." 

SOMETHING    IMPOSSIBLE. 

^'  Now,"  he  said,  "  I  want  you  to  go  and  gather  up  those 
seeds  in  the  basket  and  bring  them  to  me."  ''Oh,"  she  said, 
"that  I  can  never  do!"  "Oh,"  said  the  devout  priest, 
"neither  can  you  undo  the  mischief  you  have  done  in  that 
community." 

Fearful  thought!  Whenever  a  seed  is  gone  from  my  grasp, 
it  is  gone  forever.  ^ 

Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap. 

There  are  a  few  great  principles  in  the  moral  universe 
around  us  which  we  might  notice,  and  then  narrow  the  dis- 
cussion to  the  practical  one,  so  that  we  may  take  hold  of  it 
as  individuals.     Suppose  I  announce  this  fact : 

sow   WHISKY,    REAP    DRUNKARDS. 

Sow  whisky,  reap  drunkards.  Would  you  deny  the  pro- 
position? If  you  do  I  beg  you  go  to  the  desolate  home,  to  the 
fatherless  children,  to  every  staggering  drunkard  that  curs- 
es this  city  to-night,  and  as  they  look  you  in  the  face  you 
will  say  it  is  a  truth  as  deep  as  the  universe,  if  you  sow 
whisky  you  will  reap  drunkards.  And  St.  Louis  with  her 
two  thousand  dram  shops  is  illustrating  this  truth  in  God's 
moral  universe  to  an  extent  that  is  enough  to  make  the  angels 
themselves  weep  tearsof  blood.  And  in  this  sowingof  whisky 
and  reaping  of  drunkards,  you,  as  the  God-fearingpeople  of  St. 
Jjouh,  are particeps  crimiiiis  in  the  whole  business.  Every  man  is 
responsible  for  every  drop  of  liquor  sold  in  this  city  untiTne 
has  done  his  level  best  to  put  it  out.  I  know  there  is  a  cry 
of  "Peace!  Peace!"  when  there  is  no  peace,  and  so  long 
as  this  traffic  is  indorsed  by  the  press  and  parlor  and  winked 
at  by  the  pulpit,  this  fearful  curse  will  blight  humanity  for 
all  ages  to  come. 

Sow  whisky,  reap  drunkards  !  I  have  been  frequently,  my 
fellow  citizens,  accused  of  exaggeration.  The}'"  say  I  speak 
in  hyperbole  j  that  I  over-color  things  ;  that  I  say  things 


Sowing  and  Reaping,  399 

that  are  too  strong.  I  can  go  to  our  cemetery,  to-night,  and 
I  can  unearth  a  dozen  skeletons  and  bring  them  and  stand 
them  at  this  sacred  desk  by  my  side  and  bid  you  look;  and 
I  defy  earth  and  hell  to  exaggerate  the  picture.  You  can't 
exaggerate  what  sin  is  doing  for  humanity,  any  more  than 
you  can  exaggerate  the  beauties  and  joys  of  heaven.  Not 
one  bit. 

SUGAR-COATED   RELIGION. 

But  humanity  leans  toward  the  sugar-coat.  They  want 
everj^thing  sugar-coated,  no  matter  what,  and  I  declare  to 
you,  to-night,  this  world  is  sick  and  sick  unto  death,  and 
what's  the  matter  ?  You  take  the  ohl  book,  and  if  you'll 
read  this  book  from  Genesis  to  Eevelations,  and  read  it 
with  an  eye  to*lhe  truth  it  asserts,  you'll  never  say  preach- 
ers exaggerate  any  more  ! 

Here's  a  patient  sick  and  here's  a  nurse  standing  by  his 
side.  The  doctor  gives  the  prescription  to  the  nurse  and 
says : 

*'Give  it  every  two  hours. '^ 

Next  morning  the  doctor  returns  and  the  patient  is  worse, 
and  the  doctor  says: 

"I  see  the  patient  is  much  worse.  Did  you  give  the  pre- 
scription at  the  right  time?  Did  you  give  them  to  him  like 
I  told  you?" 

''No — I — doctor,  I  thought  these  powders  w^ere  so  large  I 
was  afraid  to  give  them  to  him  that  way,  and  I  took  out 
about  half  of  the  powder,  and  I  thought  it  would  kill  the 
fellow  to  give  it  to  him  just  like  you  gave  it  to  me,  and  I 
took  out  some  of  the  powders  V 

And  the  patient  dies!  Who  is  to  blame?  Who  is  lo 
blame? 

God  Almighty  tells  every  preacher,  "I  put  you  by  the 
side  of  the  death-bed  of  this  world,  and  I  give  you  the  pro- 
scription. Now  give  it  to  the  patient.''  And  we  as  preach- 
ers are  dividing  up  the  doses,  and  we  say,  "  It  would  kill  the 
poor  fellow  to  give  it  to  him."  Well,  God  bless  us,  let's  kill 
him.     I'm  no  homeopath  when  it  comes  to  morals. 

CAN   TELL   IT   BY   THE   NEWSPAPERS. 

I  know  this  old  world  is  sick.  I  can  shut  my  Bible  for 
twelve  months,  and  simply  road  your  daily  newspapers,  and 


400  Sowing  and  Heaping. 

see  that  this  old  world  is  sick  unto  death.  And,  God  being 
my  helper  and  my  judge,  I'm  going  to  give  you  the  powders 
just  as  he  means  them;  and,  if  they  kill  the  patient,  then  no 
one  can  point  his  bony  finger  at  me  at  the  judgment,  and 


*'If  you  had  given  it  like  God  said  for  you  to  do,  sir,  I 
wouldn't  have  been  here  in  this  condition/' 

There's  one  beauty  about  religion.  If  President  Cleve- 
land had  commenced  bemeaning  the  Democratic  party  and 
showing  up  its  corruption  as  I  have  tried  to  show  up  the 
corruption  of  the  churches  of  this  city,  the  Democratic  par- 
ty would  have  been  disrupted  and  disbanded  and  gone  to 
pieces  to-day.  If  James  G.Blaine  had  gone  and  talked  about 
the  Republican  party  and  showed  up  the  rascality  and  mean- 
ness in  the  Eepublican  party  as  I  have  tried  to  show  up  the 
wickedness  and  worldliness  of  the  churches  of  this  town, 
the  Republican  party  would  have  gone  to  pieces.  But  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with  his  grand  system  of  recovery — the 
more  you  set  fire  to  and  the  more  you  burn  up,  the  more 
there  is  left,  thank  God.  And  the  more  you  denounce  the 
thing,  the  more  the  thing  will  rally  to  the  right,  and  to-day 
Jesus  Christ  with  his  system  of  religion  has  the  only  system 
that  will  bear  such  an  ordeal  as  that.  And  I  tell  you  people, 
to-day,  if  you  want  to  make  the  world  good,  set  on  fire  and 
burn  up  everything  that  ought  to  be  burned  up,  and  tell  God 
to  take  what  is  left — and  there's  more  left  than  there  was 
when  you  commenced — and  use  it  for  his  glory,  and  we  will 
have  a  grand  church  down  here  in  this  world. 

A   NOVEL  USE   FOR   A  LICENSE. 
Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  he  shall  also  reap. 

Announce  the  truth  to  the  world !  If  you  sow  whisky 
you'll  reap  drunkards.  You'll  reap  drunkards.  I  declare  to 
you,  if  I  were  ever  to  sell  whisky,  or  wanted  to  sell  whisky 
— and  I  never  will  and  never  shall;  but  if  I  should — I  would 
want  to  go  to  a  city  in  a  Christian  country,  and  I  would  want 
to  have  the  indorsement  of  Christian  Aldermen  and  Chris- 
tian Councilmen.  And  when  I  procured  my  license,  signed 
up  and  indorsed,  I  would  file  it  away  in  charge  of  my  wife, 
and  tell  her: 

"Wife,  when  I  come  to  die  put  this  license  in  my  coffin 
with  me." 


Sowing  and  Heaping.  401 

And  when  the  resurrection  trump  should  wake  me  from 
the  dead,  the  first  thing  I  would  think  of  would  be  my  li- 
cense. And  when  God  called  me  to  the  judgment  and  show- 
ed me  what  I  had  done  for  the  race,  I  would  pull  out  my  li- 
cense, indorsed  by  Christian  people  and  signed  by  Christian 
mayors  and  council,  and  tell  God  : 

"I  didn't  know  there  was  a  bit  of  harm  in  it.  These  Chris- 
tian people  backed  me.^' 

And  God  Almighty  will  put  the  whole  shebang  in  hell 
together.     Now  you  mark  that.     It  is  time  for  us  to  wake  up. 

COULD   DO    IT   IF    THEY   WANTED    TO. 
Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  he  shall  also  reap. 

I  am  responsible  for  the  sowing  of  all  evil  until  I  have 
done  my  best  to  arrest  it  and  stop  it. 

And  ril  tell  you  another  thing:  There  are  enough  pro- 
fessing Christians,  I  expect,  in  all  the  churches  of  this  city, 
to  put  a  stop  to  the  sowing  of  this  seed  in  a  month,  if  you  all 
wanted  to. 

And  I'll  say  another  thing:  If  the  members  of  all  the 
churches  in  this  town  will  stop  drinking  whisky,  they  will 
shut  up  about  half  of  the  bar-rooms,  to  start  with.  You  old 
red-nosed  devil  in  God  Almighty's  Church,  you  are  a  dis- 
grace to  this  universe  ! 

SOWING    PR'OFANITY. 

If  we  sow  liquor,  we  reap  drunkards.  "Well,  we  get  farth- 
er along  down  the  line.  If  I  sow  profanity,  I  will  reap  pro- 
fanity. Oh,  how  many  swearing  boys  in  St.  Louis  to-night ! 
how  many  little  ones!  how  many  smaller  ones!  In  a  con- 
versation with  a  house  full  of  little  boys  the  other  day,  I 
asked  the  question: 

^'Boys,  do  you  use  bad  words?" 

One  little  fellow  said  ''Yes,  sir." 

Said  I :  "Where  did  you  learn  that  ?  " 

"Men  learned  me  to  say  bad  words,"  was  the  reply. 

Sow  profanity — reap  profanity.  Every  little  profane  boy 
that  blights  the  morals  of  this  town  is  a  living  witness  that 
if  you  sow  profanity  you  reap  profanity.  God  pity  the  brute 
that  will  swear  in  the  presence  of  his  children. 

Sow  profanity,  reap  profanity.  In  one  town  in  Georgia 
there  was,  pej*haps,  the  most  profane  man  in  the  State,  and 


402  Sowing  and  Beaming. 

this  profane  man  was  the  father  of  a  little  boy.  One  morn- 
ing the  little  boy,  the  son  of  this  man,  came  walking  down 
the  sidewalk,  and  just  before  he  got  to  his  father's  store, 
where  his  father  and  several  were  standing  out  in  front  of 
the  door,  some  one  tripped  the  little  fellow ;  and  when  they 
tripped  him  he  had  like  to  have  fallen  on  the  walk.  Here- 
covered  himself,  and  then  turned,  and  such  a  string  of  oaths 
ryou  hardly  ever  heard  escape  human  lips.  And  the  father 
turned  with  the  other  gentlemen  and  looked,  and  the  father 
said : 

^'Why,  son  !  was  that  you  V 

And  the  little  boy  dropped  his  head  and  said  :  ^'Yes,  sir." 
The  father  said  :  "Gentlemen,  hear  me  !     I'll  never^swear 
another  oath  while  I  live." 

AN  EARLY  HARVEST. 

But  why  stop  it  now?  He  has  sown  his  little  boy's  heart 
full  of  the  seed  of  damnation,  and  reaped  a  harvest  for  hell 
before  his  child  was  four  years  old. 

Oh,  what  a  thought !  Oh,  what  a  thought !  God  pity  the 
man  who  will  deliberately  demoralize  the  pure  children  of 
his  home.     Profanity  !  Sow  profanity,  reap  profanity. 

And  then  we  say:  Sow  cards,  reap  gamblers. 

JSTow  I  discuss  general  propositions.  A  great  many  dis- 
agree with  me;  but  I  reckon  we  will  all  agree  in  the  discus- 
sion here  to-night.  I  dare  assert  it,  there  isn't  a  man  fool 
enough  to  deny  a  proposition  when  its  legitimate  results  and 
when  all  its  logic  is  as  clear  as  the  mind  of  God  and  as  resist- 
less as  the  judgment  of  God.  You  can't  get  round  these  re- 
sults. They  are  before  you  as  facts,  as  deep  and  broad  as 
the  universe. 

Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap. 

Sow  cards,  reap  gamblers.  And  every  gambler  that  curses 
this  city  to-night,  is  the  legitimate  product  of  card-playing 
at  home.  Nine  gamblers  out  often  are  the  product  of  Chris- 
tian homes.     Statistics  will  show  it. 

NO   ALLUSIONS   TO    GOVERNOR  OF    MISSOURI. 

Now,  I  have  said  a  great  many  hard  things,  so-called,  and 
a  great  many  of  those  things  that  I  have  said  have  been  ap- 
plied. I  don't  apply  things  !  I  run  a  sort  of  wholesale  gos- 
pel shoe  establishment  and  just  make  shoes  for  the  public; 


Sowing  and  Reaping.  403 

and  every  man  puts  on  those  that  fit  him,  you  know,  and 
goes  out.  That^smy  line.  I'm  never  personal,  and  there  never 
was  a  bigger  mistake  made  by  press  or  people  than  to  think 
my  remarks  about  swill-tubs  and  mash-tubs  the  other  night 
had  any  reference  to  the  Governor  and  Supreme  Court  of 
Missouri.  They  were  not  in  my  mind  at  all.  I  wasn't  think- 
ing about  them  at  all.  And  why  the  press  of  this  State  should 
have  such  an  idea  as  that  I  meant  the  G-overnor  of  Missouri  is 
the  profoundest  mystery  in  the  world  to  me.  For  1  disown 
it,  and  say  candidly  and  honestly,  the  Governor  of  Missouri 
and  the  Supreme  Court  of  Missouri  were  no  more  in  my  mind 
when  I  made  the  assertion  than  something  I  never  thought 
of  at  all.  I  am  sorry.  I  am  sorry  that  anybody  should  ever 
think  that  I  would  say  such  a  thing  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
this  State  or  the  Governor  of  this  State.  I  run  a  shoe-shop 
and  I  am  not  responsible  who  you  put  the  shoes  on. 

THE  TRUIT  OF  CARD-PLAYING. 
Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap. 

If  you  sow  cards  you'll  reap  gamblers — reap  gamblers.  I 
want  to  say  to  you  parents  here  to-night,  I  know  some  of  you 
have  not  only  thought  hard  things,  but  j^ou  have  said  a  heap 
harder  things  about  me  than  I  ever  said  about  you.  Now, 
listen  ! 

There  is  one  verse  in  scripture  I  wish  every  parent  in  this 
country  would  heed  and  understand.  It  is  where  David 
said  : 

Blessed  are  ye  simple  ones  concerning  iniqmty. 

Blessed  are  you  boys  and  girls  that  don't  know  how  to  sin ! 
Do  you  get  the  idea  ? 

I  was  guilty  of  a  great  many  vices,  but  I  never  knew  how 
to  gamble.  I  believe  if  my  father  and  mother  had  taught  me 
the  different  games  in  cards,  I  believe  I  would  have  gone 
with  that  vice  added  to  others,  beyond  all  recovery,  forever 
and  forever!  God  being  my  helper,  cards  and  wine  and  balls 
and  such  as  that  shall  never  come  into  my  home  until  they 
come  over  my  dead  body  at  the  front  door.  This  tide  of 
worldliness  that  is  sweeping  children  to  hell  and  hardness  of 
heart  every  day,  shall  never  come  into  my  home  until  I  have 
spilt  my  last  drop  of  blood  at  the  front  door. 

26 


404  Sowing  and  Reaping. 

'' "Well,"  you  say, '' you  stick  to  that,  and  you  can  never 
get  into  society/' 

Society  !  That  heartless  old  wretch  ?  Society  !  Society ! ! 
Society ! !  the  leech  of  the  soul,  that  sucks  it  until  it  is  as  hol- 
low as  a  drum  !  E"othing  in  there  !  Nothing  in  there  ! 

NO  FRIEND  TO  SOCIETY,  SO-CALLED. 

Society!  the  heartless  old  wretch!  She  has  cursed  ten 
thousand  homes  in  this  world  —  society,  so-called,  I  mean. 
Grod  being  my  helper,  and  God  being  my  trust  and  judge  on 
the  final  day,  I  shall  never  go  into  anything,  orbe  in  partner- 
ship with  anything  that  will  curse  my  children  when  I  am 
dead  and  gone.  There  are  mothers  and  fathers  in  this  house 
who  are  laughing  in  their  sleeves  at  what  I  am  saying  this  mo- 
ment, and  if  you  could  just  run  down  twenty  years  from  this 
moment  and  see  some  members  of  your  household,  you  would 
absolutely  weep  tears  of  blood  and  faint  in  the  pew  where 
you  sit ! 

I  have  seen  wives  who  set  wine  around  on  their  table  in  the 
first  years  of  their  married  life,  and  cut  up  a  big  shine  accor- 
ding to  the  latest  fashion  of  society — I  have  seen  such  a  wife 
with  streaming  eyes  and  with  a  face  that  God  must  pity  to 
look  at,  begging  me  :  ''  Oh,  help  me  save  my  husband  !  He's 
gone  forever." 

And  I've  said  it  many  a  time  :  if  I  was  the  wife  of  any  man 
and  he  brought  his  demijohns  and  his  wines  to  my  home,  I 
would  tell  him ;  '■'■  Sir,  in  the  name  of  God,  don't  bring  that 
here  in  the  presence  of  my  children,"  instead  of  doing  like 
some  of  you,  who  stir  it  and  sweeten  it  and  fix  it  for  him. 
And  I  would  tell  him  in  the  presence  of  my  children  :  "  You 
go  down  and  get  your  bar-keeper  to  do  that.  I  won't  soil 
my  hands  and  damn  my  children,  stirring  your  toddies  for 
you !" 

My  God  !  We  need  some  wives  and  mothers  in  this  coun- 
try who  will  suffer  anything  before  they  will  allow  their  lit- 
tle children  to  be  demoralized  and  damned  in  their  own 
homes. 

Sow  cards,  reap  gamblers  !  God  Almighty  pity  the  Chris- 
tian  home  that  can't  get  along  without  a   pack  of  cards. 

[Turning  to  the  brethren  on  the  platform]  I  wish  y^u'd 
all  say  ''Amen"  along  occasionally. 


Sowing  and  Heaping. 


405 


And  now,  I  wonH  say  which  one  of  your  boys  may  be  a 
gambler,  or  which  one  of  your  daughters  will  marry  a  gamb- 
ler— a  man  that  you  taught  to  play  cards  around  your  so- 
cial circle  at  home — but  I  will  say  this  much  :  If  you'll  burn 
up  your  cards  and  quit  card-playing,  you'll  never  have  any 
reason  to  regret  it  when  you  come  to  die.  Til  say  that 
much.  God  being  my  helper,  I  know  that  cards  have  curs- 
ed thousands  of  lives  in  this  world,  and  we  know  they  will 
curse  thousands  more  of  lives.  But  I  say,  they  will  never 
curse  my  children  with  my  knowledge,  and  especially  with 
my  consent. 

sow   BALLS,  REAP    GERMANS. 

Sow  cards,  reap  gamblers.  Sow  balls,  reap  germans.  And 
I'm  glad  it's  called  ^'german.'^  I'm  glad  it  ain't  "Ameri- 
can." I'm  glad  we  had 
enough  respect  for  Amer- 
ica to  give  that  thing  a  for- 
eign  name.  German! 
There  is  nothing  more  de- 
moralizing to  society  than 
what  you  call  the  german. 
And  when  you  sow  the 
german  you  are  mighty 
nearly  run  out !  Sow  ger- 
mans and  reap  spider-leg- 
ged dudes  !  And  sow  spid- 
er-legged dudes  and  reap 
half  a  thimbleful  of  calves- 
foot  jelly — that's  all  the 
brains  they've  got. 

I  got  to  fighting  the 
dudes  over  there  in  ^N'ash- 
ville,  and  the  "  boys"  un- 
loaded on  the  darkies. 
You  could  see  more  dark- 
ies going  about  there  with  tight  pants  and  toothpick 
shoes  on  than  I  ever  saw  in  my  life.  Came  pretty  near 
reforming  the  town.  The  darkies  don't  care,  you  know; 
and  I  don't  think  they  ever  got  on  to  the  joke. 

Oh,  me  !  I  tell  you  humanity  is  running  out  mighty  far 
along  those  lines.     And  they  say  to  me  :  "Except  you  par- 


One  Who  Had  Been  Unloaded  On. 


406  Sowing  and  Heaping. 

take,  except  you  mix  with  and  go  into  these  things,  your 
daughters  will  all  die  old  maids."  Well,  bless  my  life, 
there  are  ten  thousand  things  worse  than  old  maid-dom. 

PREFERS    THE    OLD    MAIDS. 

The  Lord  knows  I  would  rather  have  fifty  old  maids  on 
my  hands  than  have  a  son-in-law  like  some  of  j^ou  have  got. 
I  would.  I  say  to  you  all  to-night,  that  the  legitimate  end  of 
such  lives  as  are  manifested  in  some  homes  in  this  town  is 
the  reaping  of  just  such  sons-in-law.  I  have  thought  about 
that  many  a  time.  If  the  devil^I  do  not  care  how  much  he 
has  against  afellow — if  the  devil  just  puts  one  or  two  drunk- 
en sons-in-law  off  on  him,  you  can  get  a  clean  receipt  on  him 
right  there.  There  is  nothing  in  earth  or  hell  that  will  beat 
one.  Some  of  you  have  tried  it,  and  know.  And  the  natur- 
al and  legitimate  end  of  such  a  life,  as  some  holy  shams  in 
this  town  manifest  in  their  homes,  is  that  you  will  reap  that 
which  will  curse  you  when  you  are  dead  and  gone.  The 
Lord  God  Almighty  help  us  as  parents  to  build  a  wall  a  mile 
high  around  our  homes  to  keep  out  everything  that  ever 
demoralized  humanity  or  cursed  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 
That  is  what  we  want.  But  now  to  give  the  discussion  for 
a  few  moments,  in  conclusion,  a  practical  turn — I  mean  more 
personal  in  its  application  : 

Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap. 

SOW  BALLS,  REAP  GERMANS. 

Sow  profanity  and  reap  it.  Sow  dram-drinking,  and  reap 
drunkenness.  Sow  cards,  reap  gamblers.  Sow  balls,  reap  ger- 
mans.  The  german  is  the  legitimate  product  of  the  ball-room. 
I  tell  you,  humanity,  when  you  start  it  down  hill,  ain't  going 
to  stop.  It  goes  from  one  to  the  other.  This  world  was  con- 
tent with  the  square  dance  for  a  while.  Then  they  said, 
*'Let  us  go  a  little  further:''  and  then  it  was  the  round 
dance  ;  and  on  and  on  and  on.  I  could  tell  jo\x  some  things 
at  this  point  that  would  make  your  blood  boil,  but  I  forbear. 
It  will  come  up  legitimately  before  I  leave  here.  There  are 
some  things  along  on  that  line  that  every  faithful  preacher 
on  this  earth  ought  to  say.  He  owes  it  to  those  who  are  just 
as  certainly  drifting  to  destruction  as  we  are  certain  that  we 
are  in  the  house  of  God  to-night. 

As  parents  let  us  go  home  a  while.     I  preached  on  the  sub- 


Sowing  and  Heaping.  407 

ject  of  family  religion  when  I  was  a  pastor  once,  and  about 
three  or  four  weeks  afterwards  I  met  one  of  the  leading 
members  of  my  Church.  He  was  one  of  the  most  intelligent 
men  of  whom  I  was  ever  pastor.  And  when  I  met  him  in 
the  road,  he  in  his  buggy,  and  I  in  mine,  he  stopped  me  and 
said  :  ^* You  know  you  preached  a  few  weeks  ago  down  at  our 
church  on  family  religion.  That  waked  me  up ;  it  put  me  to 
thinking;  it  put  me  to  studying;  it  put  me  to  praying.  I 
have  gone  home  and  studied  my  children  all  those  days  since 
I  saw  you,  and  I  have  reached  a  conclusion." 

A   PRETTY   SAFE    CONCLUSION. 

^'What  is  it?"  I  asked.     ^'Let  me  hear  it." 

**After  three  weeks  of  close  study  of  my  children  I  have 
found  out  that  my  children  " — 

Hear  it,  parents. 
" — have  not  a  single  fault  that  either  I  or  their  mother  has 
not  got."     That  is  enough  to  bring  parents  to  their  senses. 
''My  children  have  not  a  single  fault  that  either  I  or  their 
mother  has  not  got." 

I  was  reading  once  where  a  father,  a  famous  climber, 
great  in  strength  and  muscle,  was  climbing  up  the  slippery, 
steep  side  of  the  mountains,  and  as  he  was  making  the  most 
fearful  struggles  in  forcing  his  way  headward  he  heard  the 
voice  of  his  little  boy  saying:  "Father,  keep  in  the  safe 
path  ;  your  little  boy  is  following  you,  your  little  boy  is 
following  you." 

Some  years  ago  a  father  started  down  to  the  rear  of  his 
plantation  to  look  after  the  stock,  and  after  he  had  gone 
100  yards  or  more,  his  little  Willie,  seven  years  old,  called 
out:  "Father,  may  I  come  with  you?"  "Yes,  son,  come 
along,"  responded  his  father.  The  snow  was  ten  inches 
deep  and  the  father  went  on  a  piece,  and  turning  around  and  • 
looking  back,  said:  "How  are  you  getting  along,  son  ?" 
"Fine,  father,"  said  the  boy.  "I  am  putting  my  tracks  in 
your  tracks,"  and  the  little  fellow  was  jumping  from  oneof 
his  father's  tracks  to  the  other. 

FOLLOWING  PARENTAL  TRACKS. 

The  godless  father  said:  "  That  is  true  in  more  senses  than 
one,  and  by  the  help  of  God  I'll  reform  my  life.  I'll  never 
lead  that  boy  to  hell." 


408 


Sowing  and  Heaping. 


^'  I  am  putting  my  tracks  in  your  tracks/'  Oh,  my  fellow- 
citizens,  when  you  bring  this  thing  down  to  where  "My 
children  will  imitate  and  follow  me,"  then  I  say,  above  all 

things,  "May  God  guide 
my  doubtful  foot-steps 
aright.  Let  me  make  no 
mistakes.  My  children  are 
on  my  track." 

When  I  wtvo  preaching 
in  a  certain  town  there  was 
a  boy  came  staggering  into 
the  church  two  or  three 
nights  successively,  and 
laid  down  in  a  back  pew 
and  went  to  sleep.  His 
father  got  him  home  that 
night  and  put  him  to  bed. 
The  father  of  the  boy, 
eight  years  before,  had 
been  converted,  when  he 
was  the  worst  drunkard 
in  the  town.  The  father 
was  now  a  consistent  and 
official  member  of  the 
church,  doing  his  duty.  The  father  carried  his  drunken  boy 
home  and  watched  him.  The  next  night,  earl}^,  as  the  boy  came 
down  the  stairway,  his  father  met  him  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs, 
and  said,  "Son,  hold  on  son  j  I  want  you  to  get  sober  and  go 
with  me,  and  give  your  heart  to  Grod  and  become  religious, 
like  your  father  has  done."  And  the  son  said :  "Get  out  of 
my  way,  father,  and  don't  try  to  stop  me."  The  man  stood  in 
front  of  his  son,  and  said :  "  Son, please  stop,  you  will  break 
my  heart."  He  looked  at  his  father  with  a  wild  glare,  and 
said  :  "  Father,  get  out  of  my  way  j  I  tell  j^ou  not  to  stop 
me;  I  am  going  down  town."  The  father  said:  "  Oh,  son, 
your  mother  has  not  slept  a  wink  of  late,  thinking  of 
you,  and  your  father  has  been  praying  to  God  for  you.  Oh, 
my  son,  don't  go."  The  boy  looked  at  him  again  with  a 
wild  glare  in  his  eye,  and  said :  "  Do  j^ou  know  the  man  who 
gave  me  the  first  drink  I  ever  took?"  "No,"  escaped  from 
the  father's  lips.    ''Well,  you  are  the  man,  sir.    You  poured 


"  /  a7n  putting  my  tracks  in  your 
tracks  y 


Sowing  and  Heaping.  409 

it  out  and  presented  it  to  my  lips.''  And  this  good  brother 
told  me:  ^'  If  my  boy  had  shot  me  through  the  heart  with  a 
minnie  ball  he  could  not  have  hurt  me  like  he  did." 

A  CORNER-GROCERY  TALE. 

Another  father  told  me  he  had  gone  into  a  grocery  store 
to  get  provisions,  and  in  the  back  room  of  that  store  was  a 
bar.  A  gentleman  said  to  him  :  ''Won't  you  go  back  and 
take  a  glass  of  lager-beer  with  me  ?"  And  he  said:  "Not 
thinking — and  I  had  not  taken  a  glass  of  lager-beer  or  any- 
thing else  in  ten  years — I  did  so  ;  and  when  the  beer  was 
drawn  I  took  it  up  in  my  hand  and  pressed  it  to  my  lips. 
Then,  for  the  first  time,  I  remembered  that  my  little  boy  was 
with  me,  and  as  I  pressed  the  glass  to  my  lips  he  pulled  my 
finger  and  said,  '  Papa,  what  is  that  you  are  drinking?'  I 
took  my  glass  from  my  lips  and  said,  'lager  beer,  son.'  Af- 
ter I  had  drunk  the  beer  I  put  the  glass  down  and  we  walk- 
ed out  of  the  store,  and  as  we  walked  out  of  the  door  the  lit- 
tle fellow  pulled  my  finger  again  and  said,  '  Papa,  what  did 
you  say  that  was  you  were  drinking  in  there  just  now?'  and  I 
said,  'Son,  it  was  lager  beer.' "  And  he  said,  "as  we  walked  on 
home  the  little  fellow  pulled  at  my  fingers  again  and  said: 
'Papa,  I  cannot  recollect  what  that  was  you  drank  just  now; 
whatwasit,  papa?'  "  And  he  said, "The  littlefellow  asked  the 
same  question  again  next  day,"  and  he  said:  "I  would  have 
given  thousands  if  I  could  have  recalled  that  one  act.  I  am 
afraid  that  one  thing  will  make  a  drunkard  out  of  my  poor 
little  boy." 

Oh  !  my  friends,  you  had  better  mind  how  you  sow.  The 
harvest  is  coming. 

Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap. 

THE  LAW  OF  INHERITANCE. 

My  life  before  my  children  will  be  reproduced  in  my  chil- 
dren. I  walk  yonder  into  your  home  and  into  your  parlor, 
and  your  little  Willie  runs  into  the  room,  and  I  have  met 
you  and  your  wife  frequently  at  church;  and  little  Willie 
runs  in  and  speaks  to  me  in  there,  and  I  look  in  his  face  and 
I  see  a  sweet,  beautiful  little  boy  ;  aud  I  can  see  his  mother's 
eye  and  his  father's  forehead;  and  I  can  see  his  mother's 
mouth  and  his  father's  chin,  and  as  I  look  in  the  face  of  the 
sweet  child  I  see  the  features  of  father  and  mother  planted 


410  Sowing  and  Heaping. 

in  the  face  of  their  little  boy,  and  then  I  say  :  ^'  My  children 
are  no  more  like  me  physically  than  my  children  will  be  like 
me  morally."  I  tell  you  like  begets  like,  and  just  as  you 
sow  so  shall  you  reap.     Sad  thought!  Sad  thought  I 

Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap. 

For  he  that  soweth  to  his  flesh  shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption. 

RUINED   FAMILIES. 

I  can  take  the  history  of  families  in  this  world,  I  can  take 
the  history  of  families  in  this  State,  I  can  take  the  history  of 
families  in  this  city,  —  enough  to  startle  every  conscience 
here  to-night.  Read  the  histories  of  these  families,  of  the 
greatgrandfather,  of  the  grandfather,  of  the  father,  of  the 
son,  of  the  grandson.  There  they  are,  as  impenetrable  to 
truth  and  as  impervious  to  right  as  it  seems  that  rock  or 
stone  could  be.  Brother,  hear  me  to-night.  Do  you  not  know 
that  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis  there  are  whole  families  going  to 
hell !  Not  one  of  them  was  ever  religious.  Oh,  it  is  the  sad- 
dest sight  ever  looked  upon.  God  has  seen  this  old  Missis- 
sippi River  Valley  with  the  blight  of  yellow  fever,  cursing 
the  whole  country  and  bringing  its  thousands  to  their 
graves;  God  has  seen  whole  provinces  in  China  starve  to 
death;  God  has  seen  our  whole  Southern  land  covered  with 
blood  and  desolation  ;  but  the  saddest  sight  God  ever  looked 
upon  was  to  see  a  father  take  his  wife  by  the  hand,  and  the 
wife  take  the  eldest  child  by  the  hand,  and  the  eldest  child 
take  the  next  child  by  the  hand,  and  so  on  down  to  little 
"Willie,  and  to  see  the  whole  family,  parents  and  children, 
founder  on  the  rocks  of  damnation,  and  lost  forever.  It  seems 
that  if  there  is  a  hell  beyond  all  toleration,  for  time  and 
eternity,  it  must  be  for  that  man  who  lets  his  children  go  de- 
liberately down  to  death  and  hell. 

Friends,  will  you  hear  to  night?  Will  you  heed  to-night  ? 
Do  you  know  that  you  are  sowing  seed,  and  that 
He  that  soweth  to  his  flesh  shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption. 

I  will  not  argue  the  proposition  long,  but  I  want  to  say  in 
conclusion  a  thing  or  two.     Hear  me  : 

But  he  that  soweth  to  the  spirit  shall  of  the  spirit  reap  life  everlasting. 

JUST  LOOK  AT  IT. 

Look  at  the  actual  sin  of  some  of  our  cities  and  of  some 
families.    We  have  been  sowing  to  the  flesh  and  of  the  flesh 


Sowing  and  Heaping,  411 

reaping  corruption.  What  are  we  going  to  do.  There  is  but 
one  thing  to  do. 

"What is  that?"  you  ask. 

Change  the  sowing.  That  is  the  only  thing  left  us,  and 
thank  God  that  is  all  we  need  in  life  or  eternity — to  change 
the  sowing.  I  want  to  say  to  this  congregation  that  I  was 
leader  perhaps  among  the  boys  of  my  town  in  wickedness 
and  mischief,  and  perhaps  I  led  many  into  wickedness  and 
sin.  I  was  converted  in  the  midst  of  those  I  led  astray.  I 
have  preached  the  gospel  in  the  churches  of  our  town  and  on 
the  streets  of  our  town,  and  last  year  in  our  big  harbor  meet- 
ing in  our  town  G-od  blessed  me  in  preaching  the  word  at 
home,  and  he  gave  me  in  that  meeting  the  last  associate  of 
my  boyhood,  and  there  is  not  a  single  boy  I  ever  led  astray 
who  is  not  a  member  of  the  church  and  on  his  way  to  heaven. 
Thank  Grod  Almighty  there  is  such  a  thing  as  reversing  the 
sowing.  Thank  God  there  is  such  a  thing  as  breaking  into 
this  powerful  tide  of  evil  and  turning  it  back  in  all  its  force 
and  fury,  and  carrying  souls  to  salvation  instead  of  sweep- 
ing them  down  to  hell. 

SOWING  UNTO  THE  SPIRIT. 
He  that  soweth  to  the  spirit  shall  of  the  spirit  reap  life  everlasting. 
Thank  God  for  that.  Though  the  sowing  of  twenty-four 
years  of  my  life  was  sowing  in  the  wrong  direction,  God  has 
given  me  fourteen  years  of  right  sowing — of  sowing  the 
right  sort  of  seed.  And,  thank  God,  while  I  have  led  a  sin- 
ner or  two  away  from  God,  I  trust  him  and  pray  to  him  to 
help  me  to  lead  dozens  back  to  him  in  righteousness  and 
peace  and  joy  in  that  holy  cause.  Brother  of  the  Church  of 
God,  fathers,  have  you  not  sowed  long  enough  in  the  wrong 
direction?  Mothers,  have  you  not  sowed  long  enough  in 
the  wrong  direction  ?  Let  every  mother  say  as  the  good 
woman  in  Chattanooga  did. 

A   CARD-]PLAYINa   STORY. 

Her  son  entered  the  house  one  evening  and  said,  ''Mother, 
you  and  sister  go  and  get  the  cards ;  I  can  beat  you  a  game 
to-nigl^t."  His  mother  spoke:  "You  didn't  hear  that  sermon 
I  did  this  evening ;  son,  those  cards  are  burned  up,  and  there 
will  be  no  more  cards  here."  And  she  said  in  addition  to 
that,  "I  promised  this  evening  at  the  meeting  to  pray  to- 


41^  Sowing  and  Reaping, 

night  for  God  to  bless  the  men's  meeting,  and  I  shall  go  up- 
stairs and  begin  to  pray  now.  It  is  nearly  meeting  time/' 
Then  he  said,  "Sister,  if  I  get  more  cards,  will  j^ou  play?'' 
She  said,  "No,  I  heard  that  same  sermon,  and  I  am  going 
up-stairs  to  pray."  That  boy  turned  right  round,  went  down 
town,  and  walked  into  the  meeting,  and  that  night  he  was 
converted  and  gave  his  heart  to  God ;  and  when  he  got  back 
home  he  took  his  mother  in  his  arms  and  said,  "Here  is  your 
saved  boy,  and  from  this  time  on  I  shall  be  a  Christian  for- 
ever and  ever.''  That  boy  was  soundly  converted.  Look 
here,  mothers.  Let  us  say  to  our  children,  I  beg  your  par- 
don, I  beg  God's  pardon.  Nothing  that  ever  harmed  a  soul 
or  cursed  humanity  shall  ever  be  fostered  in  my  house  any 
longer.  Out  with  it.  I  am  done.  I  am  done.  And  that 
may  produce  conviction  in  your  boy's  heart,  and  before  next 
Sunday  night  meeting  is  over,  every  child  you  have  got  may 
be  a  Christian,  and  on  its  way  to  heaven. 

A   REUNION   OF   THE   JONESES. 

Now  a  word  of  personal  history  and  you  will  pardon  me; 
although  I  do  notknow  whether  it  is  necessary  for  a  preach- 
er ever  to  ask  anybody's  pardon.  Whether  you  pardon  or 
not,  I  will  say  this  just  in  illustration  of  the  thought  I  am 
on.  About  six  years  ago  now  in  February  I  received  a  let- 
ter from  my  old  grandfather  Jones.     He  wrote  me  this : 

My  dear  grandson,  you  and  your  wife  and  your  children  come  down  on  the 
27th  of  February  to  our  humble  home.  Your  grandmother  and  myself  will 
have  been  married  fifty  years  on  that  day.  "We  have  lived  fifty  years  in  happy 
wedlock,  and  we  are  going  to  celebrate  our  golden  wedding. 

I  never  thought  much  about  it  for  a  few  days,  but  as  the 
time  drew  near  I  said,  "Wife,  let  us  go  down  to  old  grand- 
father's." He  lived  two  counties  below  me,  and  he  lived  in 
a  double  log-cabin.  He  had  been  poor  all  his  life,  and  he 
had  always  been  a  hard-working  man.  We  got  down  to 
grandfather's,  and  there  were  gathered  all  his  kinsfolk, 
sons,  son-in-laws,  grandchildren  and  great-grandchildren. 
"We  ate  dinner  in  that  humble  cabin,  and  after  dinner  we  went 
into  the  large  room,  as  it  was  called,  and  we  gathered  around 
grandfather  and  grandmother  in  a  double  circle,  g^rand- 
father  and  grandmother  sat  in  the  center  of  the  circle,  and 
my  old  grandfather,  a  saintly  old  man,  said  :  "I  want  to  tell 
you  some  history  and  statistics."    He  said : 


Sowing  and  Heaping.  413 


*^Way  back  yonder,  in  Elbert  County,  Ga.,  when  a  sixteen 
year  old  boy,  bound  out — my  father  and  mother  were  both 
dead,  and  I  was  bound  out  to  a  gentleman  until  I  was  twenty- 
one  years  old — the  Methodists  came  into  that  county  and 
preached.  And  they  started  a  meeting,  and  I  went  up  to  the 
altar  and  gave  my  heart  to  God  and  joined  the  Church. 

^' And  shortly  after  I  joined,  they  made  a  class-leader  out 
of  me,  and  then  an  exhorter,  and  then  they  licensed  me  to 
preach,  and  for  about  fifty  years  I  have  been  a  preacher.  In 
the  meantime,  when  I  was  about  twenty-one  I  married  this 
your  grandmother,  and  mother,  and  the  first  night  we  went 
into  our  humble  home  we  commenced  evening  and  morning 
family  prayer,  and  for  fifty  years  steadily  we  have  kept  up 
our  devotions  night  and  morning." 

And  he  said:  ^' I  have  preached  the  gospel  in  my  poor 
way  the  best  I  could.  I  have  thought  many  a  time  that  I 
might  just  as  well  give  it  up  and  quit  it  all ;  I  was  doing  no 
good  ;  but  I  have  been  faithful  to  God  and  duty.  And  now, 
children,  here  are  the  statistics. 

THE    STATISTICS. 

''There  are  fifty-two  of  us  in  all — children,  grandchildren 
and  great  grandchildren.  Twenty -two  of  that  number  have 
crossed  over  and  gone  to  glory.  Sixteen  of  the  twenty-two 
were  infants,  and  I  have  God's  word  for  it  that  they  have 
gone  safe.  The  other  six  remaining  ones  that  have  passed 
over  all  died  happy  in  Christ  and  went  home  to  heaven.'' 

And  one  of  these  six  was  the  man  I  had  the  honor  to  call 
my  father,  and  I  stood  by  his  bed  and  saw  him  literally 
shout  his  way  out  of  this  world.  ''And  now,"  said  my  grand- 
father, "there  are  thirty  of  us  living,  and  every  one  of  those 
thirty  were  in  the  Church  and  on  their  way  to  heaven  except 
one!  one!  one!  My  God,  how  that  boy  has  crushed  my 
life's  blood  out!  And  I  have  stood  up  and  preached  to  oth- 
ers about  Jesus  Christ  and  his  power  to  save,  when  you  could 
hear  the  blood  dripping  in  my  own  heart !  Oh,  my  poor, 
wayward  brother!  He  went  right  to  the  gates  of  hell,  but 
God  brought  him  back.  But  I  trust  and  believe  to-night  that 
he  is  a  better  man  than  I  am.  They  say  that  he  is,  and  that 
he  preaches  with  more  power  and  efficiency  than  I  do.    Poor 


414  Sowing  and  Heaping, 

fellow  !     He  went  very  near  to  the  gates  of  hell,  but  he  was 
reclaimed." 

THE   preacher's   HOPE. 

"Now,"  said  my  old  grandfather,  "twenty-two  over  yon- 
der, thirty  down  here.  I  do  not  care  much  whether  I  stay 
down  here  with  you  or  go  up  yonder  and  stay  with  them  un- 
til you  come." 

Well,  since  then  my  good  old  grandmother  has  gone.  That 
grand  old  man  who  was  bound  out  in  Elbert  County,  Geor- 
gia, and  gave  his  heart  to  God,  and  went  about  sowing  good 
seed,  now  has  five  sons  that  are  preaching.  I  believe  it  is 
five  sons  and  two  grandsons  that  are  preaching  the  gospel 
of  Christ  all  over  the  land,  and  the  work  is  going  on.  And 
I  have  thought  many  a  time  that  if  God  Almight}?-  should 
give  me  a  million  of  souls  as  trophies  for  the  cross,  when  I 
get  to  heaven  I  will  hang  them  all  on  my  old  grandfather's 
crown  and  tell  God  he  is  worthy  of  them  all.  He  has  been 
the  stay  of  my  life,  and  to-night,  while  I  am  preaching  in  St, 
Louis,  that  grand  old  man  no  doubt  is  on  his  knees  praying 
God  to  bless  his  grandson  and  help  him  preach  the  gospel  of 
Christ. 

Well,  I  went  off  after  that,  thinking  about  all  this,  saying : 
"I  have  been  wanting  to  get  to  heaven  all  my  life;  I  cannot 
miss  it  now."  As  my  old  grandfather  said,  twenty -two  are 
safe  over  there  and  the  other  thirty  on  the  way,  and  I  can- 
not miss  that  glorious  world.  I  am  on  my  way  thereto-night, 
blessed  be  God  !  All  the  money  I  have  got  is  in  this  bank, 
and  it  shall  stay  there  forever. 

WHAT    HE   EXPECTS   IN   HEAVEN. 

I  have  sat  down  and  buried  my  face  in  my  hands,  and  said, 
many  a  time,  "Dear  Lord,  if  I  ever  get  to  heaven — the  very 
thought  is  charming  to  me — if  I  ever  get  to  heaven,  I  expect 
to  know  my  mother  there  and  see  my  father  and  loved  ones 
there,  and  it  will  be  a  joy  to  me  to  look  up  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ,  my  precious  Savior,  as  I  walk  the  golden 
streets;  but  I'll  tell  you  that  the  grandest  hour  I  shall  see 
in  heaven  is  some  sweet  moment  as  I  walk  the  golden  streets, 
when  I  shall  see  my  precious  wife  winging  her  way  into  the 
shining  courts  and  I  shall  join  hands  with  hor.  "We  jour- 
neyed hand  in  hand  down  yonder  and  we  are  here  forever." 


Sowing  and  Reaping,  415 

Then  the  next  gladdest  moment  shall  be  when  wife  and  I 
shall  sit  down  in  the  shade  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  an  archan- 
gel wings  his  way  to  us  and  lights  at  our  side,  and  brushes 
our  little  Mary  out  from  under  his  wings.  He  says  :  "Here 
she  is.  You  trained  her  for  everlasting  life  and  she  shall  live 
with  you  forever/' 

And  another  glad  hour  will  be  when  an  angel  shall  wing 
his  way  to  us  and  brush  sweet  little  Annie  from  under  his 
wing,  and  shall  say  :  "Here  she  is,  another  cherub  you  trained 
for  joys  on  high  )"  and  until  at  last  every  sweet  child  shall 
come  sweeping  in,  and  we  shall  all  join  hands  in  the  courts 
above  and  shout  aloud  : 

"  Here  are  all  of  us,  and  home  forever  V* 

Oh,  what  a  glad  hour  that  will  be  to  this  poor  weary  man! 

God  help  me  to  live  so  that  my  children  following  in  my 
footsteps  shall  come  to  the  world  of  bliss  and  peace  up  yon- 
der. 

THE   LAST   APPEAL. 

Before  I  dismiss  to  you  to-night,  how  many  of  you  in  this 
house,  as  parents  and  children,  will  stand  up  with  me  in  an 
honest  prayer,  "  God  helping  me,  I  will  live  the  life  of  the 
righteous,  that  I  may  die  his  happy  death,  and  that  my 
last  end  may  be  like  his?^'  How  many  of  you,  fathers 
and  you  mothers,  to-night,  can  say,  "God  helping  me,  I 
will  live  better  and  set  a  better  example"?  Will  every  fa- 
ther and  mother  here  to-night  and  every  son  and  daughter 
here  to-night  who  feels  that  way,  stand  up  in  this  congrega- 
tion a  minute  with  us  all  in  honest  prayer  ?  If  you  mean  it, 
stand  up!  How  many  now  will  stand  up  and  say:  "God 
helping  me,  I  will  give  my  life  to  better  and  nobler  and  truer 
things." 

[About  four-fifths  of  the  congregation  rose.] 
Well,  thank  God!     Now  let  us  breathe  an  earnest  prayer 
to  heaven.     If  any  of  you  want  to  be  prayed  for,  if  you  will 
stand  up,  we'll  pray  for  you — any  sitting  down  ?     Now  let's 
all  pray  earnestly  a  moment  together. 


^ERJVION   XXIII. 

"\Yh/T    ^UgT    I    pO    TO    BJE    ^/.VED? 


What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?    And  they  said ;  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved,  and  thy  house. — Acts  16 ;  30,  31. 

ts  a  minister  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  I  have  no  right  to  ad- 
vise a  man  to  do  anything  that  he  cannot  die  doing  that 
and  die  saved.  When  that  question  is  propounded  to  me  as  a 
minister  of  the  gospel,  I  can  answer  it  in  no  way  except  the 
scriptural  way.  As  a  minister  I  have  no  right  to  advise  a 
man  to  do  anything  in  order  that  he  may  be  saved,  unless  I 
am  conscious  the  advice  given  will  surely  bring  about  salva- 
tion to  him. 

THE  MINOR  ESSENTIALS. 

ITow,  I  might  advise  a  man  to  pray  in  his  family — and 
every  father  ought  to  pray  with  the  children  of  his  home.  I 
cannot  see  how  any  man  who  loves  his  children  and  believes 
that  his  children  are  immortal,  can  let  morning  and  night 
pass  by  day  after  day,  and  no  devotion  in  his  home  j  and  yet 
I  see  how  a  man  may  pray  in  his  family  all  his  life  and  die 
unsaved.  I  might  advise  a  man  to  read  good  books — and  I 
know  that  that  is  good  advice,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  noth- 
ing can  be  more  pernicious  than  bad  books,  and  nothing 
more  helpful  than  good  books — yet  I  see  how  a  man  may 
read  good  books  all  of  his  life  and  dieunsaved.  I  might  advise 
a  man  to  keep  good  company — and  above  all  things  we  ought 
to  keep  no  other  sort — and  yet  I  see  how  a  man  may  keep 
company  with  God's  people,  with  good  men  and  women,  all 
his  life  and  die  unsaved. 

GOOD  ADVICE. 

I  might  advise  a  man  to  join  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ — 
and  I  know  that  is  good  advice.  I  wish  every  man  and  wom- 
an and  boy  and  girl  in  St.  Louis  would  join  the  Church  of 
God  to-night  and  take  the  vows  of  the  Church  upon  them 
and  live  up  to  those  vows.  Oh,  how  much  better  and  bright- 
416 


What  Must  I  Do  to  he  Saved  r  417 

er  this  world  would  be  around  us !  I  say  when  I  advise  a 
man  to  go  into  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  is  good  ad- 
vice. The  message  of  th e  Church  of  God  to  this  old  world  is : 
Come  thou  and  go  with  us  and  we  will  do  thee  good. 
And  I  k'now  I  give  you  good  advice  when  I  say  to  all  men, 
come  into  the  Church  ;  it  will  be  healthful  to  you,  it  will  be 
like  a  restraint  thrown  around  you,  it  may  lead  you  to  a  no- 
bler, better  life. 

A   REMARKABLE   INCIDENT. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  incidents— I  now  think  of  it 

in  connection  with  this  thought-one  of  the  best  women  1 

remember  to  have  had  in  my  charge  as  a  pastor-true^  noble, 

good  Christian  woman-she  said  to  mo  one  day,  -Did  you 

!ver  hear  how  it  was  I  got  into  the  Church  r     Said  I  -No. 

"Well  "  she  said,   -I  was  about  a  fifteen-year-old  girl,  and  i 

was  st'anding  outside  of  my  pew  in  the  aisle  when  the  con- 

g-reo-ation  arose  to  sing,  and  the  preacher  invited  inquirers 

forward.     I  had  stepped  a  little  out  from  between  the  pews 

and  took  my  stand  in  the  aisle,  and  stood  there  singing,  and 

a  mischievous  schoolmate  of  mine  standing  behind  me  gave 

me  a  push  and  started  me  up  the  aisle,  and  started  me   so 

forcibly  I  could  not  stop,  and  I  just  went  right  on  up  and 

gave  the  preacher  my  hand,  and,-  she  said,  -that  is  how  I 

came  in  the  Church." 

THE   RESULT. 

She  said,  -  I  was  so  impressed  by  the  fact  that  I  did  join 
the  Church,  that  it  made  me  very  serious;  and  the  following 
week,  whenever  wrong  or  error  would  come  up,  i  d  say,  i 
cannot  do  that;  I  am  a  member  of  the  Church;  and  she 
said  -that  thing  so  weighed  upon  me  until  finally  i  said, 
^Can  I  perpetuate  a  membership  in  the  Church  and  not  be 
relio-ious  r  And  I  sought  the  Savior,  and  found  him.  And 
she^said  to  me,  -I  would  not  take  the  world  for  that  push 
that  c;irl  gave  me  that  day."  ,     ,.«, 

The  fact  of  the  business  is,  it  don't  make  much  difference 
what  starts  you,  so  you  get  a  good  start.     There  s  a  heap  in 

^^  And  I  will  say  another  thing.  You  don't  live  many  blocks 
from  here,  and  the  way  is  just  as  plain  before  your  eye  ft-om 
here  to  your  house  as  it  is  from  where  you  sit  to  where 
these  burners  are  lighted;  and  yet  you  could  not  get  to  your 


418  What  Must  I  Bo  to  he  Saved  ? 

home  to-night  without  starting;  much  less  to  heaven  with- 
out starting. 

THE    CHURCH   ISN^T   EVERYTHING. 

I  say  1  would  give  you  good  advice  if  I  were  to  say  to  you, 
^'Come  into  the  Church  of  Grod  ;"  and  yet  I  can  see  how  a  man 
may  live  and  die  outside  of  the  Church  of  God  and  be  saved. 
I  would  say,  ''Commemorate  the  sufferings  and  death  of  Jesus 
Christ,"  and  I  believe  every  soul  for  whom  Jesus  died  ought 
to  commemorate  his  sufferings  and  death  around  the  sacra- 
mental board — and  yet  I  see  how  a  man  may  partake  of  the 
sacrament  regularly  and  then  sit  down  in  hell  at  last.  I 
might  advise  a  man  to  be  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Trinity 
— God  said  to  the  ministers,  ''Go  out  into  the  world  and 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature,  and  tell  them  they  that 
believe  and  are  baptized  shall  be  saved" — and  yet  I  can  see 
how  a  man  may  go  from  baptism  to  death  and  hell.  I  may 
advise  a  man  to  make  a  profession  of  religion  and  love  it, 
and  yet  I  can  see  how  a  man  may  go  from  the  heights  of  pro- 
fession down  into  the  depths  of  damnation.  These  are  all 
grand  instrumentalities  in  the  hands  of  God — and  I  would 
not  underestimate  any  one  of  them — but  there  is  one  suffic 
iency,  and  that  is  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 

» 

KEEPING   TO   THE   TEXT. 

Now  we  propose  to  speak  to  the  text  straight  through. 
What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? 

We'll  notice  some  of  these  small  words  in  this  text.  There 
is  force  in  each  one  of  them. 

This  is  infinitely  the  most  important  question  ever  pro- 
pounded by  man — 

What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? 

Now  it  is  not  "What  must  I  think  ?"  It  is  not  "How  must 
I  feel?"  It  is  not  "Where  must  I  go?"  but  "What  must  I  do 
to  be  saved  ?" 

We  get  to  God  through  movement.  A  man  cannot  think 
his  way  to  God.  This  world,  by  its  wisdom,  cannot  know 
God.  A  man  cannot  find  God  by  going  to  the  temple,  or  on 
this  mountain.  The  question  is  not  "How  must  I  feel?"  nor 
"What  must  I  think?"  but  it  is: 

What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?    Not  every  one  that  sayeth,  "Lord,  Lord," 
but  ho  thiit  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 


What  Must  I  Do  to  be  Saved  ?  419 

A   GREAT   DEAL   OF   MYSTERY. 

Now,  we  have  got  a  great  deal  of  mystery  mixed  up  with 
what  we  call  religion.  Why,  if  there  were  not  mysteries  in 
the  Bible  I'd  discard  it  in  a  moment;  I'd  know  some  trick- 
ster wrote  it.  If  I  knew  every  mystery  in  the  word  of  God, 
I'd  know  some  man  like  myself  wrote  it.  Ingersoll  said  in 
one  of  his  lectures:  ^'The  Bible  !  the  Bible  !  Why,"  said  he,' 
"I  could  write  a  better  book  myself."  Some  old  woman  goti 
up  and  said:  *' You'd  better  get  at  it :  there's  money  in  it." 
And  money  is  what  Ingersoll  is  after. 

I  say  there  are  mysteries  there  that  I  can  never  solve.  I 
grant  you  that  I  never  can  see  with  my  finite  eye  how  the 
God  over  all  could  ever  have  been  an  infant  a  span  long.  I 
can  never  understand  that.  I  can  never  see  how  the  babe  in 
the  manger  at  Bethlehem  can  be  the  king  of  angels.  I  can- 
not solve  that  problem.  I  never  could  understand  how  the 
great  God  who  upholds  all  things  could  be  carried  about  in 
Mary's  arms.  I  can  never  solve  that.  I  never  could  under- 
stand how  he  that  'owned  the  cattle  upon  the  thousand  hills 
and  implanted  the  bowels  of  this  earth  with  gold,  could 
send  his  disciples  to  the  fish's  mouth  to. get  money  to  pay 
his  taxes.  These  are  things  I  can  never  solve.  But  I  be- 
lieve in  my  heart  that  Jesus  of  J^azareth,  the  carpenter's  des- 
pised boy,  was  the  king  of  angels,  and  God's  only  begotten 
Son,  and  the  brightest  hopes  in  this  world  cluster,  around 
and  bud  and  blossom  out  of  just  such  faith  as  this. 

GETTING   RELIGION. 

Now,  we  ministers — and  I  expect  others  hereto-night  not 
preachers — have  adopted  a  phrase  that  is  delusive  in  itself — 
*' getting  religion."  '' When  did  you  got  religion  ?"  "  I  got 
religion  so  and  so."  Well,  what  does  a  man  mean  when  he 
says,  "  I  have  got  religion"?  There's  nothing  in  the  book 
about  folks  getting  religion — there's  not  a  word  on  that  sub- 
ject. You  cannot  point  your  finger  to  a  single  instance  where 
any  man  ever  said,  <' I  got  religion  away  back  yonder,  so 
and  so."  That  term  is  deceptive  in  itself.  And  a  great  many 
people  think  that ''  When  I  get  religion  I  will  get  hold  of  a 
huge  sentiment  that  will  stir  me  up  from  head  to  foot." 
Well,  religion  is  not  a  shout,  it  is  not  a  song,  it  is  not  a 
sentiment,  it  is  not  a  getting  happy,   it  is   not  shouting. 

27 


420  What  Must  I  Do  to  be  Saved  ? 

Shouting,  getting  happy,  are  no  more  a  part  of  religion  than 
my  coat  is  a  part  of  me.  I  have  got  a  coat,  thank  God  !  I 
couldn't  get  along  without  one  ;  but  I  would  be  just  as  much 
myself  without  the  coat  as  I  am  with  one;  and,  thank  God 
Almighty,  I  can  be  just  as  good,  and  just  as  religious,  and 
just  as  Christ-like,  and  never  shout,  as  I  can  be  shouting  my 
way  to  glory. 

MYSTIFYING    MATTERS. 

We  have  really  mystified  this  whole  subject  in  our  exper- 
iences. We  have  taught  men  to  believe  that  somehow  or 
other  religion  was  something  that  came  down  on  a  man 
and  was  thrust  into  his  soul ;  and,  after  all,  he  was  a  differ- 
ent man  altogether  in  an  instant.  Many  a  fellow  gets  up  at 
meeting,  saying,  "I  got  it !  I  got  it!  I  got  it  right  in  here!" 
Well — got  what  ?  Now  that  is  the  big  question.  Got  what  ? 
And  if  he  donH  mind,  it  will  be  buried  with  him  right  in 
there ;  it  will  never  get  out — never  get  out.  When  they 
bury  him,  they  can  say,  ''Here  lies  a  solid  lump;  it  never 
evaporates,  effervesces,  or  anything. '' 
What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? 

What  is  ''  Getting  religion  '7  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ? 
I  notice  that  when  Christ  himself  mingled  with  men,  and 
talked  with  men  face  to  face,  Christ's  term  was,  ''  Follow 
me;  follow  me  ;  go  with  me  somewhere."  Not ''  Take  some- 
thing and  sit  down  there  and  enjoy  it,"  but  "  Come,  take  my 
hand  and  go  with  me  somewhere." 

WHAT   RELIGION   IS    NOT. 

Eeligion  is  not  a  something  that  bubbles  out  of  the  lips 
and  from  the  lungs  of  a  man,  but  religion  is  motive  power 
taking  one  somewhere.  Or,  in  other  words,  when  a  man 
says,  ''  I  have  got  religion,"  I  have  just  got  one  question  to 
ask  him.  I  mean  sir,  thi&:  When  Jesus  Christ  knocked  at 
the  door  of  your  heart,  did  you  open  the  door  of  your  heart 
and  let  Christ  in,  and  is  he  there  now  ?  And  is  the  life  that 
you  now  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God  that  loved  you 
and  gave  himself  for  you?  You  can  run  Mormonism  with- 
out John  Smith,  and  you  can  run  Confucianism  without  Con- 
fucius, but  you  cannot  run  Christianity  without  Christ.  He 
is  the  living  embodiment  of  our  souls;  of  all  that  he  would 
have  us  to  be  externally. 


What  Must  I  Do  to  he  Saved?  421 

A   MISTAKEN   BELIEF. 

Now,  I  have  seen  a  man  get  up  from  an  altar  and  shout 
and  clap  his  hands  together  and  say:  ^' Glory  to  God!  I 
have  got  it !''  And  yet  that  same  man,  three  months  from  that 
time,  gave  the  falsehood  to  all  of  the  profession  he  made  by 
an  unfaithful  lie.  Some  of  the  best  men  I  have  ever  known 
in  my  life  came  to  God  in  the  most  quiet,  unassuming  way; 
and  they  said  to  me :  "  I  don^t  know  the  time  nor  the  place 
when  God  touched  me  into  life ;  but  this  much  I  know,  that  I 
live  by  faith  in  Christ  this  moment." 
Being  made  partaker  of  the  divine  nature. 
is  the  scriptural  term. 

And  what  do  you  mean  by  that? 

This  old,  dead,  dormant,  wicked  nature  of  mine  has  been 
touched  by  divine  power,  and  I  feel  now  like  I  had  strength 
to  do  what  God  wanted  me  to  do  ;  and  I  have  now  courage  to 
refuse  to  do  the  thing  that  the  devil  wants  me  to  do  and 
the  world  wants  me  to  do.  A  great  part  of  my  life,  when- 
ever I  had  got  stirred  up  and  began  to  think  about  who  I 
was,  and  what  I  was,  and  where  I  was  going  to,  the  very 
next  thing  I  thought  about  was :  ^'  Well,  religion  is  all  a 
mystery  ;  I  don't  know  anything  about  it.'' 

SEEKING   RELIGION. 

A  man  came  up  last  night  and  grabbed  my  hand  and  said  : 
^'  I  want  to  be  what  you  said,  but,  I  don't  know  what  to 
be.     I  don't  know  anything  in  the  world  aboutit." 

Eeligion  is  a  very  plain  thing.  Do  you  know  that  nine- 
tenths  of  humanity  are  very  ignorant,and  do  you  think  that 
Jesus  Christ  would  promulgate  a  religion  that  nine-tenths 
of  the  world  would  not  understand  ?  Do  you  think  that  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  would  envelop  religion  in  such  a  fog  that 
the  clearest  minds  would  not  see  into  it?  He  has  given  us  a 
religion  that  is  so  plain  that  the  most  ignorant  man,  though 
he  be  a  wayfarer,  can  see  through  it. 

WHAT   SALVATION   IS   NOT. 
What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? 
Now,  salvation  is  not  a  song,  as  I  said  just  now.     It  is  not 
sentiment.     It  is  not '^  getting  it ;"  but  salvation,  if  it  means 
anything,  means  this:  Salvation  from  something  and  salva- 


422  Wiat  Must  I  Do  to  be  Saved  ? 

tion  to  something;  salvation  from  the  wrong  and  salvation 
to  the  right.  There  is  something  practical  about  a  thing  of 
that  sort.  Salvation  from  the  demijohn  and  salvation  to  so- 
briety. Don't  you  see?  Salvation  from  profanity  and  sal- 
vation to  chastity.  Salvation  from  gambling  and  salvation 
toward  justice  in  all  my  ways.  Salvation  from  the  things 
that  degrade  me,  and  salvation  to  the  things  that  ennoble 
me  and  elevate  me. 

"What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? 
What  is  salvation  ?  "Well,  when  you  sum  it  all  up,  here  it 
is  in  a  nutshell :  Salvation  is  loving  everything  that  Grod 
loves  and  hating  everything  that  G-od  hates.  That  is  salva- 
tion. What  a  man  loves  and  what  a  man  hates  determines 
his  character.  If  a  man  will  tell  me  what  he  loves  and  what 
he  hates,  I  can  tell  him  what  he  is;  and  the  difference  be- 
tween the  best  man  in  St.  Louis  and  the  worst  man  in  St.- 
Louis  is  found  in  these  likes  and  dislikes.  A  good  man  loves 
the  good  and  hates  the  evil.  A  bad  man  hates  the  good  and 
loves  the  evil.  That  is  the  difference.  Salvation  means  be- 
ing in  harmony  with  the  good  and  out  of  harmony  with  the 
evil,  so  as  to  be  able  to  say,  ^' I  love  the  good  and  hate  the 
evil.'' 

SOMETHING   TO    BE    GLAD   OF. 

I  am  SO  glad  that  a  man  is  considered  orthodox  among 
Protestant  Christians  still  when  he  saysr^^Grod  made  me, 
and  I  am  certain  that  if  God  made  me,  G-od  could  so  alter, 
vary  and  change  my  nature  that  he  could  make  me  love  the 
good  and  hate  the  evil,  and  it  is  God's  own  work.  Open 
my  eyes,  show  me  the  evil,  show  me  the  good,  and  make  me, 
in  answer  to  my  prayer  and  my  surrender  to  him,  to  hate 
the  evil  and  love  the  good." 
What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? 

Salvation  means  deliverance  from  the  guilt  of  sin;  deliv- 
erance from  the  love  of  sin  ;  deliverance  from  the  dominion 
of  sin.  Oh,  I  do  not  think  there  is  a  Protestant  book  of  the- 
ology extant  that  teaches  salvation  is  anything  else  than  de- 
liverance from  the  guilt  of  sin  :  deliverance  from  the  love  of 
sin  and  from  the  dominion  of  sin.  I  wish  we  Christian  peo- 
ple would  live  up  as  high  as  our  books  teach  us  on  that  sub- 
ject.    1  am  not  a  sanctificationist;  but  I  will  declare  to  you 


What  Must  I  Do  to  he  Saved  ?  423 

that  you  cannot  raise  a  bigger,  higher,  deeper  howl  in  the 
churches  of  God  in  this  country,  than  to  preach  about  sanc- 
tification,  than  to  say  that  a  man  can  be  a  sanctified  man 
throughout  soul  and  body  and  spirit,  and  made  to  walk  arm- 
in-arm  with  God  every  day.  And  now  people  will  say, 
''  That  man  is  running  oif  like  wild-fire ;  now  he  has  got  off 
on  a  tangent,  and  he  is  preaching  something;  and  the  first 
thing  you  know  about  him  he  will  be  in  the  asylum/'  Thatis 
just  about  the  talk  of  people  who  preach  on  that  line.  Now, 
listen,  my  dear  friend  :  there  is  not  a  plane  of  Christ  where 
the  soul  is  allowed  to  sin.  The  soul  is  not  allowed  to  sin 
on  the  lowest  plane,  and  the  only  difference  between  sancti- 
fying a  man  and  regenerating  him,  as  we  call  it,  is  the  ex- 
ternal difference.  There  is  not  a  particle  of  internal  differ- 
ence. If  there  is  an  enemy  lurking  in  the  soul,  sanctification 
puts  it  on  the  outside.  I  like  that.  God  knows  I  have 
plenty  out  there  to  fight,  but  I  do  not  want  any  more  on  the 
inside.  Sanctification  puts  the  last  enemy  of  a  man  on  the 
outside. 

A   POINTED   DIFFERENCE. 

I  get  up  here  and  preach  :  ''  If  these  sinners  do  not  quit 
sinning,  God  will  damn  them  forever.'^  But  the  Church  itself 
has  some  reserved  rights.  They  say,  ''Give  it  to  those 
sinners,  but  do  not  say  anything  about  us.  Tell  them  that 
the  Lord  will  damn  them  every  one.''  That  is  the  way  we 
run  it  off,  and  other  preachers  say  to  those  sinners : 
The  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall  die  ? 

What  is  the  message  of  God  to  them? 

If  the  righteous  man  forsake  his  righteousness  and  commit  iniquity,  his 
righteousness  shall  be  forgotten  and  he  shall  die  in  his  sin. 

Did  you  ever  read  that?     And  God  says  to  the  wicked  : 

If  the  wicked  man  will  forsake  his  wickedness  and  do  right  his  wicked- 
ness shall  not  be  remembered  against  him  and  he  shall  be  saved. 

That  is  the  message.  Ah,  me!  There  is  no  better  army 
to  fight  this  world  with  than  an  army  of  Jesus  Christ  that 
has  been  truly  saved  from  sin.  I  do  not  want  any  senti- 
ments or  shouting  connected  with  my  religion,  if  I  can  just 
feel  conscious  that  I  am  saved  from  sin-  The  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  cleanseth  me  from  sin. 


424  What  Must  I  Do  to  be  Saved  ? 

THE    GREAT   QUESTION. 

Ah,  my  brethren  in  the  Church,  God  lets  some  of  us  ask 
this  question: 

"What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? 

To  be  saved  from  sin?  To  be  saved  to  do  righteousness? 
That  is  the  question.  The  saved  man  has  power  with  God. 
A  saved  man  has  influence  with  his  fellows.  Lord  God  Al- 
mighty, save  us  to  to-night  as  professors  of  religion,  save 
us  from  sin  and  save  us  to  righteousness. 
What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? 

Let  us  rush  into  the  presence  of  God  to-night  with  this 
earnest  question  coming  up  from  our  hearts,  and  let  us  ar- 
ticulate it  with  our  tongues: 
What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? 

What  must  the  Church  do?  What  must  the  city  do?  What 
must  the  family  do?  What  must  I  do?  Salvation  is  a  per- 
sonal matter.  I,  I,  I  can  get  nobody  to  die  for  me.  I  can  get 
nobody  to  be  buried  in  my  place.  I  cannot  get  any  one  to 
stand  before  God  atthe  judgment  in  my  place.  God  won't  say 
to  any  other  man,  *■'-  Come  wear  this  man's  crown,"  or  to  an- 
other man,  '-'■  Go  into  everlasting  darkness  and  suffer  for  this 
one;  but  I  stand  personally  before  God,  all  in  my  own  per- 
sonal character,  just  like  I  was  the  only  man  that  ever  lived 
in  the  State  of  Missouri,  or  the  only  man  that  ever  walked 
on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

THE   ANSWER. 

What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? 
What  can  I  do  to  be  saved  from  the  guilt,  and  the  life  and 
the  dominion  of  sin  ?     That  is  the  question.     What  must  I  do 
in  order  to   love   everything  that  God  loves,  and  to  hate 
everything  that  God  hates?     That  is  the  question. 

Well  now,  thank  God,  we  have  an  answer,  and  that  answer 
comes  straight  to  the  conscience  of  every  one  of  us. 
Believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved. 

SOMETHING   ELSE    TO    BE    GLAD   OP. 

Oh,  I  am  so  glad  that  it  did  not  read  this  way  : 

Believe  the  Methodist  creed  and  follow  the  Methodist  discipline,  and  you 
shall  get  to  heaven. 


What  Must  I  Do  to  be  Saved  ?  425 

I  am  so  glad  that  it  did  not  read  that  way.  If  it  had,  there 
is  many  a  man  who  would  have  stopped  and  said  :  That  I 
cann^ot  do."     I  am  so  glad  it  did  not  read  : 

Believe  the  Baptist  creed  and  be  immersed  by  the  Baptists  and  follow  their 
precepts,  and  you  shall  be  saved. 

I  am  glad  they  did  not  put  it  that  way,  for  some  of  us  might 
have  objected.     I  am  glad  it  is  not  written  : 

Whosoever  believeth  the  Presbyterian  creed  and  conforms  to  their  usages 
shall  be  saved. 

Some  of  us  might  have  objected.  But,  blessed  be  God,  it 
is  not  faith  in  the  creed,  but  faith  in  the  person,  that  saves 
the  soul. 

CONCERNING    CREEDS. 

"What  is  a  creed  ?  It  is  nothing  but  the  skin  of  truth  set 
up  and  stuffed  with  something.  There  is  no  life  in  it,  no  life- 
giving  powers,  and  no  creed,  |;cr  se,  ever  saved  any  man.  I 
am  glad  we  have  formulated  our  doctrines  and  formulated 
our  creeds.  That  was  necessary,  that  was  right;  but,  thanks 
be  to  God,  when  I  want  to  be  saved  — when  a  poor  sinner 
wants  to  be  saved  to  God  and  from  sin,  and  saved  in  heav- 
en— I  have  nothing  to  do  but  fall  down  at  the  feet  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  say  :  ^' God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner."  That  is  it. 

!N'ow,  there  is  many  a  man  in  heaven  that  never  heard  of  the 
Methodist  creed.  There  is  many  a  man  in  heaven  who  went 
there  before  there  was  a  Methodist.  Don't  you  see  ?  There 
is  many  a  man  in  the  good  world  who  never  heard  of  the 
Baptist  Church.  Brethren,  don't  you  bother  yourself  about 
this  creed  or  that  creed,  or  try  to  understand  all  there  may 
be  in  any  creed,  but  look  yonder — 

Hanging  on  that  tree 
In  agonies  of  blood, 

and  as 

He  fixed  his  languid  eyes  on — 

on  you  J  and  you  surrender  to  that  divine  person  on  that 
tree.     That  is  it. 

INFANT   SALVATION. 

Now,  a  great  many  people  say  that  a  child  is  too  young  to 
understand  the  Scriptures;  it  is  too  young  to  join  the 
Church.  Well,  brother,  when  did  you  graduate?  That  is 
the  question.     That  little  ten-year-old  boy  of  yours  under- 


426  What  Must  I  Do  to  be  Saved  f 

stands  just  about  as  much  of  the  mysteries  of  redemption  as 
you  do.  Ain't  that  so  ?  And  our  Savior  pushed  your  sort 
back,  and  said : 

Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me. 
And  he  said  something  else  to  you  gray-headed  gentle- 
men : 

Except  ye  be  converted  and  become  as  little  children,  ye  shall  in  no  wise 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

'     And  yonder  little  child  can,  blessed  be  Grod,  take  Christ  as 
his  Savior  or  her  Savior. 

A   STORY  OP   JONATHAN   EDWARDS. 

This  incident  I  have  heard  related  of  Jonathan  Edwards, 
perhaps  the  greatest  man  that  ever  preached  the  gospel  in 
America.  He  heard  of  the  conversion,  say,  of  little  Minnie 
Lee,  in  a  distant  State.  That  good  man  did  not  believe  that 
children  could  know  Christ,  and  he  went  hundreds  of  miles 
to  hunt  the  home  of  this  little  girl.  And  when  he  knock- 
ed at  the  door,  and  was  admitted  by  the  mother  of  the 
child,  he  gave  her  his  hand  and  said,  '^I  am  Dr.  Edwards. 
Is  this  Mistress  Lee  ?"  And  she  bowed  and  said,  ^'I  am  Mrs.  • 
Lee.''  ^'Well,"  he  said,  "I  have  come  to  talk  with  your  lit- 
tle Minnie."  And  she  said:  ''Walk  into  the  parlor."  He 
walked  in  and  took  a  seat.  The  mother  went  and  dressed 
little  Minnie,  combed  her  hair  and  brought  her  into  the  par- 
lor looking  almost  like  a  little  angel,  sure  enough.  And  Dr. 
Edwards  took  her  up  on  his  knee  and  questioned  her  and 
probed  and  dissected  every  utterance  for  almost  an  hour. 
Then  he  took  little  Minnie  and  set  her  in  her  mother's  lap, 
and  took  out  a  handkerchief  and  wiped  the  big  tears  from 
his  eyes,  and  said:  -'Thank  God  Almighty,  a  child  four 
years  old  can  have  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

BRING   THE   CHILDREN   TO   CHRIST.' 

Oh,  brethren,  let  us  bring  our  children  to  Christ;  let  us 
save  them  in  their  younger  days.  Won't  you  ?  Thank  God 
for  every  agency  in  this  country  that  brings  children  to 
Christ.  God  bless  you,  Sunday-school  superintendents,  and 
you  Sunday-school  teachers,  and  God  help  you  to  know 
Christ  yourself;  and  let  the  great  aim  of  your  lessons  at  the 
Sunda5^-school  be  to  teach  your  children  to  come  to  Christ  a 
divine  person. 


What  Must  I  Do  to  he  Saved?  43:j 

"What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? 

The  answer  comes : 
Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved. 

Wilt  thou  believe  in  Christ?  I  have  read  a  good  many- 
books  on  faith,  but  I  never  read  one  yet  that  was  not  as  clear 
as  mud.  I  never  read  a  work  on  faith  that  I  was  not  more 
dissatisfied  when  I  quit  reading  it  than  I  was  before  I  com- 
menced. I  have  watched  authors  split  a  hair  a  mile  long  in 
their  efforts  to  get  at  the  different  shades  and  views  and 
opinions  on  faith.     But  I  will  tell  you  what  faith  is. 

A   DEFINITION   OF   FAITH. 

Steve  Holcomb,  with  his  little  wharf-rats  before  him  at 
Louisville — a  poor  little  beggar  children's  Sunday-school — 
called  four  of  them  out  before  him,  and  pulled  half  a  dollar 
out  of  his  pocket,  and  said,  "Johnny,  you  can  have  that/' 
Johnny  sat  and  looked  at  it,  but  never  opened  his  mouth. 
And  he  said,  ''Willie,  you  may  have  that;"  but  the  little  fel- 
low sat  and  grinned  but  never  opened  his  mouth.  And  he 
said,  "Henry,  you  may  have  that,"  but  Henry  sat  there  and 
never  said  a  word.  And  he  said,  "Tommy,  you  may  have 
that;"  and  Tommy  put  out  his  hand,  grabbed  the  money, 
and  ran  it  down  into  his  pocket. 

And  Brother  Holcomb  said,  "That  is  faith." 

The  other  boys  cried  and  cried  because  they  did  not  take 
it. 

Faith  is  taking  just  what  God  offers  you.  God  offers  you 
Christ  and  salvation.  It  is  just  taking  what  is  offered  you, 
don't  you  see? 

INTELLECTUAL   BELIEF    SAVES    NO    MAN. 

I  want  to  say  at  this  point,  brethren,  that  if  a  man  believes 
anything  after  he  gets  religion  that  he  did  not  believe  before 
he  got  religion,  I  have  never  got  religion.  I  believe  nothing 
since  I  got  religion  that  I  did  not  believe  before.  That  is, 
I  never  saw  a  day  in  my  life  that  I  did  not  believe  the  Bible. 
I  never  saw  a  line  in  the  Bible  in  my  life  that  I  did  not  be- 
lieve. I  may  be  happily  constituted,  but  I  want  to  tell  you 
I  believed  everything  in  the  Bible,  and  everything  it  said 
about  Christ.  And  I  believed  he  was  the  Savior  of  men. 
And  I  believed  that  twenty-four  years  ago,  when  I  went  with- 
in half  a  mile  of  eternal  perdition.     I  believe  the  same  thing 


428  What  Must  I  Do  to  he  Saved  ? 

to-day.  But  for  the  last  fourteen  years,  thank  God,  I  have 
not  only  believed  it,  but  I  have  been  trying  to  do  it  to  the 
best  of  my  ability.  I  believed  it  twenty-four  years,  but  went 
on  just  like  there  was  nothing  meant.  For  fourteen  years, 
thank  God  Almighty,  I  have  not  only  believed  in  Jesus  Christ 
in  the  sense  that  I  did  before,  but  I  have  been  following  right 
after  him. 

Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 

THE   CONDITION   OF   FAITH. 

But  I  will  tell  you  what  my  trouble  was.     I  did  not  know 
faith  had  its  conditions. 
Saving  faith. 

^ow,  if  I  put  my  hands  up  that  way,  I  cannot  see  that  gas 
burner  to  save  my  life;  but  if  I  take  my  hands  down  I  can- 
not help  seeing  it.  But  when  I  put  my  hands  up  I  do  not 
comply  with  the  conditions  of  sight.  When  I  take  them  down, 
I  do.  If  I  put  my  hands  up  I  cannot  see  it  to  save  my  life. 
Take  them  down  and  I  cannot  help  seeing  it.  Or,  if  I  am 
riding  along  the  road,  and  I  see  an  apple  on  a  tree  by  the 
side  of  the  road,  I  say  I  cannot  taste  that  apple.  But  a  lit- 
tle boy  says:  ^'Mister,  if  you  will  climb  that  tree  and  shake 
that  apple  down,  and  bite  it,  you  cannot  help  tasting  it." 
DonH  you  see  that  when  I  am  riding  along  that  lane  I  am 
not  complying  with  the  conditions  of  taste;  but  when  I  stick 
my  teeth  in  the  apple,  I  am. 

Now,  what  are  the  conditions  of  faith  ?  I  do  not  know  of 
but  one  in  this  round  world,  and  that  is  repentance. 

MUST   FIRST  REPENT. 

When  a  man  doesn't  repent  he  can't  believe  unto  salvation 
to  save  his  life,  and  if  he  will  repent  he  can't  help  from  be- 
lieving to  save  his  life,  and  then  he  just  believes  right  on.  And 
faith  is  an  act.  Faith  is  adjusting  the  soul  rightly  towards 
God,  and  taking  what  he  is  willing  to  give.  That's  the  fact. 
In  other  words,  faith  in  the  old  washerwoman  that  God  would 
send  the  rain  to  do  her  washing — her  faith  was  to  ask  God  for 
rain,  and  tighten  every  hoop  on  every  tub  and  push  them  up 
under  the  eaves.  There's  many  a  fellow  praying  for  a  show- 
er of  grace  in  this  country;  and  all  your  tubs  with  every 
hoop  loose,  and  turned  bottom  side  up  ;  and  it  might  rain 
grace  a  thousand  years,  and  you'd  never  catch  anything. 


What  Must  I  Do  to  he  Saved  ?  429 

G-od  himself  canH  fill  a  tub  that  is  bottom  side  up,  unless 
he  reverses  gravity. 

Believe  !  How  may  I  believe  ?  That's  the  question. 
Row,  brethren,!  bring  this  down  so  every  man  of  you  can 
eee  it,  and  I  aim  to  be  perfectly  deliberate,  and  I  aim  to  be 
straightforward  in  this  argument.  I  am  trying  to  put  the 
matter  so  every  one  of  you  can  see  it,  and  I  waritj^ou  to  see 
it  in  the  light  that  God's  word  teaches  it  to  us — that  faith  is 
the  attitude  of  the  soul  presented  toward  God,  so  that  he 
may  come  and  do  what  he  wants  to  do  for  us  and  with  us. 

And  I  tell  you  another  thing  :  The  hardest  thing  a  poor 
fellow  ever  tries  to  do  in  this  world  is  to  give  himself  to  God 
just  like  he  is.  He  wants  to  fix  up  and  brush  up  and  arrange 
the  matter.  Oh,  how  bad  we  do  hate  to  turn  just  such  a  case 
over  to  God  !  We  would  like  to  make  him  about  half-way 
what  we  want  him  to  be,  before  we  turn  him  over.  It  is  the 
hardest  job  a  man  ever  undertook  to  turn  himself  over  to 
Uod  just  like  he  is,  just  like  I  am. 

A  HARD   TASK  ILLUSTRATED. 

I  have  often  thought  of  that  moral,  upright  boy  that  was 
convicted  of  sin  at  the  camp-meeting,  and  at  the  same  time 
his  servant  boy  that  drove  him  about  was  converted.  The 
servant  boy  went  off  to  the  woods  and  knelt  down  and  gave 
his  heapt  to  God  in  an  hour,  and  was  converted  ;  and  this  boy 
sought  religion  all  during  the  camp-meeting  at  the  altar  and 
had  them  all  praying  for  him.  He  went  home  and  prayed 
for  two  or  three  weeks,  and  still  was  not  converted  ;  and  one 
day  this  colored  boy  came  along  by  his  door,  and  he  called 
him  in  and  said  : 

*'Harry,  look  here.  I  want  to  understand  how  it  is.  You 
have  been  the  worst  boy  in  this  town  and  you  were  convert- 
ed at  the  same  camp-meeting  that  I  was  at,  and  you  went 
down  in  the  woods  and  got  religion  and  gave  yourself  to  God 
in  an  hour,  and  here  I've  been  praying  and  trying  and  I  am 
still  in  darkness.  I  know  you've  got  it,  but  here  I've  been 
a  moral  upright  boy  all  my  life,  and  I  don't  know  why  God 
will  pardon  a  mean  nigger  like  you  are ;  and  here  I  am,  can't 
get  either  religion  or  pardon." 

*^  Well,  Mas'r  Henry,"  says  the  boy,  '^I  can  explain  that. 
As  soon  as  the  Lord  gave  me  the  spirit  of  religion  I  saw  my- 


430  What  Must  I  Do  to  be  Saved  ^ 

self  all  in  dirty  rags,  and  that  moment  I  went  out  in  the 
woods  and  shucked  off  my  dirty  rags,  and  said,  '  Oh,  Lord, 
clothe  me  in  garments  of  righteousness;  and  the  Lord  gave 
them  to  me  right  there.  But,  Mas'rHenry,you've  been  a  good 
boy  all  your  life,  and  you've  only  got  a  splotch  of  mud  on 
oneof  your  clothes,  and  you've  been  trying  to  brush  it  off 
about  three  weeks;  but,"  says  he,  ''if  you'll  only  shuck  them 
off  and  pray  the  Lord  to  clothe  you  in  garments  of  right- 
eousness, he'll  do  it  right  there." 

•  And  when  the  boy  walked  out,  the  young  man  fell  on  his 
knees  and  prayed  :  ''  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner.  I'm 
a  poor,  lost,  ruined,  sinful  boy."  And  it  wasn't  long  before 
he  was  able  to  say  to  his  driver  boy  :  ^'  Harry,  I've  got  it. 
I've  got  it.  Blessed  be  God.  You  taught  me  a  great  truth 
— that  I've  got  to  come  to  God  just  like  I  am  ;  no  brushing 
off  the  mud,  and  no  fixing  up  about  it,  but  ask  God  to  give 
you  garments  brushed  for  all  eternity,  and  there  you  are." 

SUBMISSION  TO  GOD. 

And  God  Almighty  can  take  the  meanest,   most  abject, 
wicked  sinner  in  this  town,  and  in  five  minutes  he  can  make 
the  most  gentlemanly,  clever,  kind-hearted   fellow  out  of 
him  that  you  ever  saw  in  your  life. 
"What  must  I  do  to  be  saved? 

A  man  who  had  been  seeking  religion  for  a  number  of 
years  sent  finally  for  the  preacher — the  preacher  told  me 
this  himself — and  when  he  got  there  this  man  said  :  ''I  have 
been  seeking  religion  more  or  less  for  twenty  years,  and  I'm 
afraid  I'll  die  at  last  without  it;  and  I've  heard  of  you  and 
Tve  sent  for  you  to  come  and  tell  me  what  to  do." 

The  brother  looked  at  him  and  said  :  ''  Submit  to  God." 

"  Well,"  he  says,  ''  what  do  you  mean  by  submitting  to 
God  ?" 

"  Well,"  he  says,  will  you  let  me  baptize  you  in  the  name 
of  the  Triune  God?" 

<'No,"  he  says,  "  I  never  can  do  that.  I  never  can  be  bap- 
tized wicked  as  I  am.     That  would  be  wrong." 

'*  Well,"  said  the  preacher,  "  if  you  won't  take  the  medi- 
cine, I'll  go.  I  won't  fool  with  a  patient  that  won't  take  the 
prescription." 

*'Well,"  says  he,  ''if  you  think  I  ought  to  be,  I  will." 


Wiat  Must  I  Do  to  be  Saved  ?  431 

"  That  ain't  the  question.  Will  you  let  me  baptize  you  in 
the  name  of  the  Trinity  ?  Will  you  submit  to  the  ordinances 
of  God?'' 

*' Well,"  he  says,  ''if  you  think  I  ought  to  be,  I  will  be?" 

*' Now,"  he  says,  ''will  you  let  me  administer  the  sacra- 
ment?" 

"  Oh,"  he  says,  that  would  be  sacrilege  for  me  to  take  the 
sacrament;  I  can't  do  that." 

"  The  question  is,  will  you  submit  to  the  sacrament  of  God, ^ 
sir  ?" 

He  says,  "I  can't  do  that.     I  never  can  do  that." 

"  Well,  then  there's  no  use  in  me  talking  to  you.  You  won't 
take  my  prescription,  and  I  can't  cure  you." 

BROUGHT  ROUND  AT  LAST. 

He  said,  finally:  "If  you  think  I  ought  to  be  baptized  and 
"Ought  to  take  the  sacrament,  I'll  do  it." 

"  JS'ow,"  he  says,  "  let  me  receive  you  into  the  Church." 

"  Oh,  no,"  he  says,  "  a  man  ought  neverto  join  the  Church 
until  he  gets  religion.    I  can't  do  that." 

"  Well,"  says  the  preacher,  "  there's  no  use  in  bandying 
words  at  all." 

"Well,"  says  the  fellow,  "  if  you  think  I  ought,  I  will." 

The  preacher  said :  "Now,  get  down,  sir,  we  will  pray 
K)Ver  this  matter." 

He  got  down  on  his  knees  and  prayed  devoutly,  and  when 
tfee  preacher  arose  from  his  knees,  the  man  said — on  his  knees 
and  all  at  once,  with  his  eyes  shut  tight,  he  says — "Thank 
God,  I  see  it  now.     I'm  a  saved  man." 

It  is  submission  to  God  that  is  religion.  It  is  walking  up 
and  stacking  your  old  gun  right  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  tak- 
ing off  your  cartridge-box  and  up  with  your  hands  :  "  Good 
Lord,  I'm  a  surrendered  rebel,  right  here.  I'll  die  before  I'll 
ever  touch  that  old  musket,  and  I'll  never  take  up  that  cart- 
ridge-box again.  I've  fired  my  last  shot  on  the  devil's  side, 
and  now,  Lord,  I'm  a  surrendered  rebel."  You  give  all  to  the 
Lord,  and  he'll  meet  you  and  bring  you  safe  in  his  arms  be- 
fore any  devil  in  hell  can  get  to  you.     Surrenderl     Submis- 


sion 


What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? 


432  What  Must  I  Do  to  be  Saved  ? 

BELIEVE  ON  HIM. 

Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Believe  on  him,  not 
believe  him.  Simply  believe  on  him.  Now,  I  believe  Ban- 
croft when  he  writes  a  history  of  the  United  States — believe 
every  word  he  says  ;  but  I  don't  believe  on  Bancroft.  He's 
of  a  different  party  from  me,  and  I  don't  know  that  I  want 
to  run  with  him  much.  And  I  may  believe  Benedict  Arnold 
when  he  writes  a  histoiy  of  the  American  revolution — be- 
lieve every  word  he  writes  )  but  I  don't  believe  on  Benedict 
Arnold.  He  was  a  traitor  and  I  don't  take  any  stock  in  such. 
But  I  believe  George  Washington  when  he  makes  a  statement, 
and  I  not  only  believe  what  he  says,  but  I'll  follow  him  and 
imitate  him.  I'll  love  him  and  revere  him.  And  when  I 
say,  "Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  I  mean  not  only 
believing  every  word  he  says,  but  put  your  foot  in  every 
track  that  Christ  ever  made  toward  heaven,  and  as  sure  as 
he  is  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  you  will  be  there,  too. 
Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved. 

WHAT  IT  MEANS. 

And  thank  G-od,  there  is  no  uncertainty  about  this  thing. 

Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
It  is  taking  up  your  cross  and  following  along  in  his  foot- 
steps. When  he  said  to  Matthew,  "Follow  me,'^  Matthew 
followed  him,  and  I  believe  to-night  Matthew  is  crowned  in 
eternal  glory.  Why?  Because  he  followed  Christ.  There 
isn't  a  word  in  the  book  about  his  getting  religion,  either. 
But  I'll  say  one  thing:  there  ainH  any  mystery  about  this 
part  of  it.  Whenever  an  old  sinner  turns  loose  all  his  sins 
and  begins  to  follow  Christ,  if  he  hasn't  got  religion,  what 
has  he  got?  That  has  been  the  question  with  me.  I  ain't 
going  to  raise  any  discussion  here  about  what  religion  is,  but 
I'll  say  I'll  go  your  security  with  my  immortal  soul  if  you'll 
just  quit.your  meanness  and  follow  along  in  the  footsteps  of 
Jesus  Christ.  I'll  risk  my  immortality  on  your  safe  entrance 
into  the  good  world  up  yonder.    No  mystery  in  that. 

And  thou  shalt  be  saved,  and  thy  bouse. 

Well,  bless  you,  it  looks  like  if  a  man  gives  himself  to 
Christ,  and  Christ  gives  himself  to  the  man,  that  that  ought 
to  be  enough.    But  listen — 

And  thy  house. 


What  Must  I  Do  to  be  Saved  ?  433 

Thank  God,  we  can  go  to  heaven  in  families,  and  I  believe 
that  is  generally  the  way  we  go  ;  and  I  like  to  see  father  and 
mother  gather  around  a  family  of  children  and  say,  "  Chil- 
dren, we're  all  going  to  heaven  together,  or  we'll  go  all  to 
hell  together.  We're  not  going  to  split  up  the  family  in 
eternity."  And,  brother  and  sister,  if  you  love  your  chil- 
dren and  say,  ''  Children,  I'll  lead  you  to  heaven  or  I'll  lead 
you  to  hell ;"  if  you'll  talk  that  way  a  minute  in  your  mind, 
you  are  going  to  talk  right  to  your  children,  and  you'll  be  a 
family  in  the  good  world. 

See  the  wife  taking  her  husband's  arm  and  walking  along 
by  his  side,  the  two  oldest  children  right  behind,  and  from 
them  on  down  to  the  smallest  child,  and  the  whole  family 
marching  right  along  to  the  kingdom  of  everlasting  peace! 
Can  any  one  look  upon  a  grander  sight  than  that — a  whole 
family  marching  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  Brother,  sister, 
thank  God,  he  will  give  us  our  children  to  go  with  us. 

A    GEORGIA   STORY. 

lN"ow,  I  havenH  time  to  argue  this  last  point.  Let  me  give 
you  a  simple  illustration,  as  told  by  one  of  the  presiding  el- 
ders of  our  conference.  He  said  he  was  holding  a  quarterly 
conference  down  in  Georgia — in  middle  Georgia — and  he 
said  at  the  love  feast,  or  before  preaching  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing— a  Methodist  love  feast  is  like  a  Baptist  experience 
meeting:  it  is  where  they  tell  their  experiences — one  got 
up  and  thanked  God  for  a  Christian  mother  and  a  Christian 
father;  and  another  got  up  and  thanked  God  they  were 
raised  in  the  lap  of  piety ;  and  anotherthanked  God  for  good 
parents;  and  directly  a  pale,  light-eyed  young  man,  about 
twenty-two  years  old — he  was  then  a  licentiate  Methodist 
preacher, just  licensed — stood  up  and  said: 

*'  I'm  sorry  I  can't  give  the  experience  of  those  who  have 
just  taken  their  seats.  I  wish  I  could  say  that  I  was  rais- 
ed by  a  pious  mother  and  a  good  father,  but  it  was  to  the 
contrary.  Two  years  ago  my  father  was  an  atheist,  my 
mother  an  infidel,  and  nine  brothers  and  sisters,  older  than 
myself,  were  all  infidels  and  atheists,  and  I  was  myself  the 
best  I  knew  how  to  be.  And  two  years  ago  I  went  into  an 
adjoining  county  to  a  camp-meeting.  I  happened  to  go  by 
myself,  and  went  down  there  to  have  fun,  as  I  usually  did. 


434  What  Must  I  Do  to  he  Saved? 

At  the  first  service  that  night  when  I  got  there,  I  was  stand- 
ing against  one  of  the  posts  that  held  the  arbor  up,  on  the 
outer  edge  ;  and  all  at  once  every  word  of  the  preacher  com- 
menced striking  fire  down  in  my  soul,  and  I  stood  transfixed 
to  that  post.  I  felt  like  I  wanted  to  be  away,  but  yet  felt  I 
couldn't  leave,  and  when  the  preacher  ended  his  sermon  and 
invited  up  the  penitents,!  went  immediately  to  the  altar  and 
knelt  down  and  commenced  praying,  ''God  be  merciful  to 
me  a  sinner/'  and  after  awhile  they  dismissed  the  congre- 
gation and  all  went  to  the  tents,  and  the  preacher  came  to  me 
and  said  :  ''  Come  out  to  the  tent  and  we'll  pray  with  you." 
I  looked  up  at  the  preacher  and  told  him:  ''  I  never  knew  un- 
til an  hour  ago  that  there  was  a  God  in  heaven,  and  I  never 
expect  to  leave  my  knees  at  this  altar  till  1  make  him  my 
friend  and  he  promises  me  heaven."  They  sang  and  prayed 
with  me  till  one  o'clock  that  night.  A  little  after  one,  all  at 
once,  I  felt  indeed  and  in  truth  that  I  had  opened  my  soul 
and  Christ  had  come  in  as  my  Savior.  And  I  got  up,  and 
slapped  my  hands  together,  and  said,  '  I  have  made  friends 
with  God  ,'  and  I  went  out  of  the  tent  and  laid  down  and 
went  to  sleep.  Oh  what  a  peaceful  sleep  it  was;  and  when 
I  woke  up  the  next  morning  the  bright  sun  was  pouring  in 
through  the  window  of  the  tent  upon  my  face,  and  I  opened 
my  eyes  and  I  thought  it  was  the  brightest  world  I  ever 
looked  upon." 

GETTING    INTO    DEEP   WATER. 

*^  After  breakfast  I  got  on  my  horse  and  started  home,  and 
this  impression  came  upon  me:  'Your  father'U  never  speak 
to  you  again.  Your  mother'll  disown  you  and  your  broth- 
ers and  sisters  will  all  despise  you.  Now,  what  have  you 
done?'  And,"  he  says,  "Oh,  how  oppressed  I  was.  And 
just  before  I  got  home  I  turned  out  in  the  grove  and  knell 
down  and  said,  ^  God  help  me  to  be  faithful.  God  keep  me 
in  this  den  of  lions  ;'  and  I  went  on  to  the  house.  I  took  off 
my  better  clothes,  donned  my  everyday  clothes  and  Aventto 
work.  About  eight  or  ten  days  after  I  came  back  from  camp- 
meeting  my  older  brother  and  I  were  out  cutting  rail  tim- 
ber, and  about  9  o'clock  we  sat  down  on  a  log,  and  directly 
I  turned  to  my  brother — I  hadn't  opened  my  mouth  before 
to  anyone — and  said:  'Brother  Tom,  do  you  know  I  was 
converted  last  week  down  at  that  camp-meeting.'    And  such 


What  Must  I  Do  to  be  Saved  f  435 

a  look  as  fell  on  his  face,  and  the  great  big  tears  were  run- 
ning down  his  cheeks,  and  he  says: 

"^Brother  Henry,  we've  all  been  watching  you  since 
you  came  back  from  that  camp-meeting.  Mother  says  you 
look  and  talk  like  an  angel,  and  sisters  say  they  never  saw 
such  a  change  in  a  boy  in  their  life,  and  father  says  you  are 
the  most  agreeable  one  now  about  the  place;  and,'  he  says, 
'Brother  Henry,  do  jow.  reckon  God  would  do  for  me  what 
he  has  done  for  you  V 

"  <  Why,  yes  !  brother  Tom.  There's  a  camp-meeting  be- 
gins to-morrow  near  here  in  this  county,  and  I'll  go  down 
there  with  you,  and  I  believe  God  will  do  for  you  just 
what  he  has  done  for  me.' 

THE   SECOND   BROTHER. 

"We  went  on  home  that  night.  We  never  opened  our 
mouths  to  a  single  one,  and  next  day  brother  and  I  fixed  up 
and  put  off  to  that  camp-meeting,  and  the  third  night  after 
we  got  there  my  brother  was  soundly  converted  to  God. 

"And  we  came  back  home,  and  I  said,  'Brother  Tom,  let's 
put  our  candle  on  a  candlestick  and  let  it  give  light  to  that 
old  dark  home.  Let's  get  the  Bible  down  to-night  and 
pray,  if  mother  will  let  us.'  And  we  went  on,  and  after 
supper,  about  bedtime,  I  turned  to  my  mother  and  said: 
'Mother,  do  you  care  if  Brother  Tom  and  I  get  down  that 
old  dust-covered  Bible  and  read  a  chapter  here  to-night  and 
have  prayer?'  And  mother  commenced  to  snub  and  cry, 
and  she  said  : 

"  'Yes,  Henrj^,  you  came  home  ten  days  ago  just  like  an 
angel,  and  here  comes  your  brother  Tom  this  evening  with 
the  same  expression  upon  his  face,  and  you  can  just  do 
anything  you  please  here.  God  knows  in  my  heart  I  want 
just  what  lights  up  the  countenances  of  my  two  boys.' 

A   NOTABLE   PRAYER-MEETING. 

And  we  got  down  that  old  Bible,  and  I  read  a  chapter  and 
called  on  brother  Tom  to  pray,  and  he  got  down  and  knelt 
on  the  floor  and  prayed  earnestly  for  father  and  mother  and 
children,  and  I  heard  mother  snubbing  over  there,  and  I 
heard  my  brother  groaning  over  there,  and  my  sister  crying 
over  here,  and  Brother  Tom  got  hold  upon  the  horns  of  the 
altar,  and  before  we  got  off  our  knees  my  mother  was  con- 

28 


436  What  Must  I  Bo  to  be  Saved  ? 

verted  and  one  of  my  brothers  and  one  of  my  sisters;  and 
we  just  kept  praying  night  and  morning  until  the  last  mem- 
ber of  the  family  was  converted ;  and  there  sits  my  old  fa- 
ther, now  seventy  years  old — he  was  the  last  one  to  come 
in — and  now  he  is  clothed  and  in  his  right  mind  and  on  his 
way  to  heaven." 

Precious  Saviour,  fill  us  so  full  of  thy  presence  that  we 
shall  have  our  homes  filled  with  thy  presence,  so  that  others 
seeing  our  good  works  may  be  constrained  to  glorify  thee 
and  our  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

A  SOUTHERN  PLANTER  AND  HIS  WIPE. 

I  wish  some  of  you  good  men  and  women  out  of  the 
Church,  here  to-night,  would  be  like  Dr.  Hodges,  at  luka, 
Miss.  He  was  a  river  bottom  planter,  a  man  of  means,  and 
one  of  the  most  cultured  men  I  ever  met,  about  fifty  years 
old.  The  day  I  commenced  the  meeting  at  luka — we  held 
the  meeting  down  in  a  grove  in  the  Spring  Park — I  walked 
down  to  the  spring,  and  the  pastor  introduced  me  to  Dr. 
Hodges  and  his  wife — a  magnificent-looking  gentleman,  and 
his  wife  a  magnificent  woman.  When  they  were  gone  ofi", 
the  preacher  said,  "  Dr.  Hodges  is  an  atheist  and  his  wife  is 
an  infidel.'' 

"Why,"  said  I,  ''that  cultured  gentleman  an  atheist?" 

''Yes." 

"And  that  bright  woman  an  infidel  ?" 

"  Yes." 

But  every  time  I  preached — three  times  a  day — I  noticed 
Mrs.  Hodges  and  the  Doctor  sitting  in  the  aisle  in  chairs.  I 
was  watching  them,  and  after  I  had  preached  three  or  four 
days,  we  had  an  afternoon  service,  and  that  woman  walked 
right  down  the  aisle,  and  I  took  her  hand,  and  one  night  I 
looked  in  her  face,  and  said  I : 

"Mrs.  Hodges,  give  your  heart  to  God  and  be  religious. 
You  may  be  in  your  grave  and  in  torment  before  the  first  day 
of  October.     Give  your  heart  to  God." 

She  threw  her  bright  eyes  up  in  my  face  all  suddenly  and 
says: 

"What  can  I  do,  sir?" 

I  said,  "My  sister,  come  up  and  kneel  down  there  and  say, 
'God,  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner;'"    and  she  says:  "That 


What  Must  I  Do  to  be  Saved  ?  437 

can  do  me  no  good  ;"  and  about  that  time  a  lady  came  to  me 
and  caught  my  sleeve  and  pulled  me  off;  she  wanted  me  to 
go  off  to  her  husband  over  there,  and  I  didn't  get  to  talk  to 
this  woman  any  more  that  night. 


Next  day,  at  ten  o'clock,  Dr.  Hodges  was  sitting  in  front 
of  his  wife,  and  she  further  back.  I  went  out  and  took  his 
hand  in  the  after  service,  and  says  I: 

"Doctor,  Tm  troubled  about  you.  You  are  upon  my  heart. 
I  have  been  praying  for  you.  Won't  you  give  your  heart  to 
God?" 

He  looked  up  at  me  with  that  magnificent,  honest  face  of 
his,  and  he  says  :  , 

^'Mr.  Jones,  will  you  please  go  back  to  the  rostrum  there 
and  read  the  eighth  and  ninth  and  tenth  verses  of  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  Hebrews?" 

Said  I,  ^^  Yes,  sir." 

I  went  back  and  opened  the  Bible  and  read  in  substance 
this: 

God  called  Abraham  into  a  country  that  he  knew  not  of,  and  Abraham 
went  knowing  not  whither  he  went.  And  he  sojourned  in  tabernacles  with 
Isaac  and  Jacob,  the  heirs  with  him,  of  the  same  promise,  and  they  looked  for 
a  city  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God. 

I  read  the  verses  distinctly  and  sat  down,  and  Dr.  Hodges 
stood  up  and  said:  "  My  fellow-countrymen  :  I  have  spent 
my  summers  for  a  dozen  years  here  with  you  all.  You  are 
my  neighbors  and  my  friends,  and  I  stand  up  here  before 
you  all  to  confess  my  sins  to  God.  I  have  roamed  over  all 
the  range  of  science  and  literature,  and  now^here  have  I 
found  rest  for  my  soul;  and  to-day  my  mind  goes  back  to 
my  precious  Christian  mother  and  my  noble,  pious  father, 
and  to-day  I  say,  'Oh  God,  take  my  hand,  I  know  not  whith- 
er,' and  I  build  a  tabernacle  here  to-day,  and  I  want  my  preci- 
ous wife  to  come  in  and  live  with  me,  and  we  will  look  for 
a  city  whose  maker  and  builder  is  God." 

Mrs.  Hodges  rose  and  rushed  up  to  the  side  of  her  hus- 
band, and  leaned  her  head  on  his  bosom,  with  tears  just  run- 
ning out  of  her  eyes,  and  she  said,  ''My  husband's  God  shall 
be  my  God,  and  his  people  shall  be  my  people,  and  his  peace 
shall  be  my  peace." 


438  What  Must  I  Do  to  be  Saved  P 

THE  LAST   APPEAL. 

And  oh,  how  Grod  blessed  us  that  day.  One  hundred  souls 
for  Christ  at  that  one  service.  Oh,  I  wish  some  of  you  no- 
ble men  would  say  to-night:  "Every  step  of  my  future  life 
shall  be  put  down  in  the  footprints  of  Jesus  Christ/'  Oh, 
friends,  we  have  prayed.  We  have  prayed.  God  only  knows 
what  I  have  carried  in  my  heart  in  the  last  ten  days.  God 
only  knows  the  feelings  that  I  have  had.  God  only  knows 
how  much  I  have  prayed  for  you. 

Oh,  friends,  this  night  won't  you  say,  "Let  others  do  as 
they  will;  as  for  me  and  my  house  we  will  serve  God." 
Have  you  not  courage  to  do  it  ? 

Let  us  espouse  the  cause  of  the  right.  Let  us  die  on  that 
side.  Brother  and  sister,  won't  you  do  it  to-night?  And 
now,  we  are  going  to  stand  up  and  sing  that  precious  old 
hymn  : 

I  am  so  glad  our  Father  in  heaven 

Tells  of  his  love  in  the  book  he  has  given. 

And  while  we  stand  and  sing,  let  me  say  that  I  would  do 
anything  I  know  of  to  help  you  to  come  to  God.  I  would 
come  and  kneel  down  by  your  side  and  pray  there  till  the 
clock  struck  twelve,  if  that  would  do  you  good.  I  am  will- 
ing to  do  anything  you  say,  and  now,  brother,  friend,  how 
many  will  come  down  here  to-night  in  this  aisle  and  give  me 
your  hand  and  say:  "Sir,  I  want  to  be  good.  I  want  to  fol- 
low Christ.  Now,  while  we  sing  this  precious  song,  won't 
you  come,  sister,  brother,  young  man,  young  lady  and  let  us 
decide  this  matter  to-night? 


^ERJVION  XXIV. 
•VYhat  af^e   You   "VY/m^iq  "pof^? 


And  now,  Lord,  what  wait  I  for  ?  my  hope  is  in  thee. — Psalms  39  ;  7. 
WOULD  get  very  close  to  every  person  in  this  congrega- 
tion to-night.  I  would  talk  face  to  face  with  you,  and  I 
would  have  my  heart  pulsate  against  your  heart.  I  know 
that  Christ  is  all  the  world  to  me,  and  I  believe  his  glory  I 
shall  see,  and  I'd  rather  lie  down  and  die  than  leave  my  Sa- 
vior. Christ  is  precious  to  many  hearts  in  this  house  and 
in  this  city.  Christ  has  blessed  thousands  of  the  blood- 
washed  throng  that  have  gone  home  to  heaven  from  this 
city.  The  multitude  in  this  city  that  are  in  the  straight  and 
narrow  path  to-night  rejoice  in  the  Savior's  love. 

A    COMMON    SALVATION. 

I  have  found  out  that  we  are  all  of  one  blood.  What  is 
good  for  one  of  us  is  good  for  all  of  us.  Anything  that  will 
help  me  will  help  you.  Anything  that  will  make  m«  a  bet- 
ter father  will  make  you  a  better  father.  Anything  that 
will  make  my  wife  a  better  mother  will  make  your  wife  a 
better  mother.  Anything  that  will  make  my  children  good 
and  cheerful  and  sweet,  will  make  your  children  good  and 
cheerful  and  sweet.  Oh,  precious  Savior!  Show  us  thatthy 
gi-ace  and  peace  can  make  a  world  happy  and  joyous  and 
good. 

Will  you  listen,  and  as  I  preach  to-night,  will  you  think 
as  I  talk.  I  would  have  you  do  this  in  your  mind;  talk 
back  at  me  just  as  you  would  if  we  sat  in  your  parlor  face  to 
face  and  carried  on  a  conversation.  Now,  as  I  talk,  you  an- 
swer me  immediately.  You  think  answers,  as  I  talk  to  ques- 
tions as  we  proceed.  Let  us  get  close  to  each  other;  let  us 
talk,  for  very  soon  these  tongues  are  going  to  be  silent,  and 
these  ears  will  hear  no  more  in  this  world.  Let  us  use  our 
«ars  and  our  tongues  to  glorify  God  to-night  and  to  get  better. 
439 


440  What  are  You  Waiting  For? 

WAITING   TO    CONSIDER. 
What  wait  I  for?    My  hope  is  in  Go  d. 

Well,  now,  friends,  I  will  come  down  on  your  side  of  the 
question,  and  will  talk  on  that  side  a  while. 

That  man  sitting  back  there,  he  is  attentive  and  thought- 
ful, and  when  we  press  this  question  upon  him  he  says:  *' I 
tell  you  what  I  am  waiting  for.  I  am  waiting  for  time  to 
consider  this  question.  This  is  a  momentous  question.  It 
is  the  most  weighty  question  of  time  and  eternity,  and  I 
don't  want  to  be  hurried  into  a  thing  of  so  much  import- 
ance. I  want  time  to  consider  this  great  question.  All  in- 
telligent action  is  based  upon  wise,  careful,  intelligent 
thought.     DonH  hurry  me  in  this  great  matter." 

^'  Want  time  to  consider."  ^'I  am  waiting  to  consider  this 
question." 

Listen  to  me  a  moment,  friend.  Do  you  want  time  to 
consider  whether  you'd  rather  be  good  than  be  bad?  Do 
you  want  time  to  consider  whether  you'd  rather  .go  to 
heaven  than  go  to  hell  ?  Do  you  want  time  to  consider 
whether  it  is  better  to  do  right  than  it  is  to  do  wrong?  Do 
you  want  time  to  consider  whether  it  is  better  to  set  a  good 
example  to  your  home  or  to  set  a  bad  example?  Do  you 
want  time  to  consider  questions  like  that? 

COULD    BE    QUICKLY   DECIDED. 

How  long  ought  it  to  take  a  sensible  man  to  decide  the 
question  whether  he  would  rather  go  to  heaven  than  go  to 
hell?  Whether  it  was  better  to  do  right  than  to  do  wrong? 
Whether  it  was  better  to  love  God  and  keep  his  command- 
ments, or  to  love  the  wrong  and  serve  the  devil  ?  How  much 
time  does  a  sensible,  wise  man  want  on  a  question  like  that? 
Why,  brother,  you  can  answer  it  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye. 
I  never  saw  a  moment  in  my  life,  but  what,  if  you  would 
bring  my  mind  with  all  its  powers  to  bear  upon  those  ques- 
tions for  fifteen  seconds,  for  ten  seconds,  for  five  seconds,  I 
could  decide  it. 

Eeally,  friend,  you  sit  back  there  to-night  wanting  time  to 
consider  a  question  that  some  of  you  settled  twenty  years 
ago.  There  are  men  in  this  house  to-night  that  settled  that 
question  twenty-five  years  ago.  *'It  is  right  to  do  right,  and 
I  ought  to  do  right  3  it  is  wrong  to  do  wrong,  ^nd  I  ought 


What  are  You  Waiting  For?  441 

not  to  do  it;  Td  rather  go  to  heaven  than  goto  hell."  Why, 
friend,  consider.  You  are  talking  for  time  to  consider  a 
question  that  you  have  settled  ten  years  ago,  twenty  years 
ago,  thirty  years  ago,  some  of  you.  Oh,  gray-headed  fath- 
er, out  of  the  church,  forty  years  ago  you  settled  the  ques- 
tion that  right  is  right,  and  you  ought  to  do  it,  that  wrong 
is  wrong,  and  you  ought  not  to  do  it.  '^I'd  rather  be  good 
than  to  be  bad.''  Then,  my  friend,  what  wait  you  for?  You 
certainly  don't  want  time  to  consider  this  question. 

WANT   TO   DO   IT   DELIBERATELY. 

"Oh,  when  I  make  up  my  mind  about  this  I  want  it  done 
deliberately,  carefully,  prayerfully.  I  don't  want  any  ex- 
citement about  it."  I  notice  this  much:  Whenever  any 
worldly  influence  wants  to  carry  its  point  they  get  up  an  ex- 
citement. Why,  I  can  take  Gilmore's  Band  and  get  up  a  big- 
ger stir  in  this  town  than  all  the  sermons  that  are  preached 
in  any  church  any  Sunday.  You  say,  why?  It  enthuses  the 
people.  How  it  stirs  the  people!  I  am  ashamed  of  myself 
as  a  minister  that  I  cannot  stir  the  people  to  deeper  enthu- 
siasm than  Gilmore's  Band  can  do.  These,  with  a  few  in- 
struments as  they  blow  their  breath  into  them,  and  the  tink- 
ling cymbals,  arouse  people  and  enthuse  people  more  than 
any  gospel  sermon  I  can  preach.  Brethren,  I  am  ashamed 
of  myself,  or  I  am  ashamed  of  my  race — one  or  both. 

ENTHUSIASM. 

Enthusiasm  !  Without  enthusiasm  a  man  is  already  half 
dead;  and  if  there  is  anything  that  ought  to  arouse  excite- 
ment and  enthusiasm  it  is  the  great  question  of  eternity ; 
and  the  only  use  I'd  have  for  enthusiasm  anyway  is  to  make 
you  do  the  thing  that  is  right  for  you  to  do. 

There's  many  a  log  adrift,  floating  way  out  on  the  ocean  ; 
but  when  the  spring  tide,  with  its  fearful  breezes  and  its  in- 
flowing waters,  shall  sweep  out  and  out,  there's  many  a  log 
swept  out  high  and  dry  that  would  never  come  out  but  for 
those  brisk  breezes  and  those  rising  tides.  Lord  God,  send 
us  such  a  heavenward  tide  to-night  as  will  sweep  us  out  to 
the  kingdom  of  God — and  sweep  us  in  spite  of  ourselves; 
for  if  some  of  us  will  ever  be  saved  at  all,  we  must  be  saved 
in  spite  of  ourselves. 

"I  am  waiting  for  time  to  consider  this  thing,  and  as  soon 


442  Wiat  are  You  Waiting  For? 

as  I   consider   it   long  enough   I   am  going  to  decide  it." 

SHOULD   ACT   ON   HIS   DECISION. 

Now,  my  friend,  let  me  say  to  you  at  this  point :  You  have 
already  considered  it ;  and  all  the  preachers  wait  for,  and  all 
the  angels  wait  for,  and  God  waits  for,  and  heaven  and  earth 
wait  for,  is  for  you  to  act  on  your  decision.  You  have  al- 
ready decided  it  is  right  to  do  right,  and  wrong  to  do  wrong; 
and  the  decision  does  not  amount  to  that  [fiUipping],  until 
the  man  says:  ^'I  will  act  on  my  decision."  I  might  decide 
to  go  home,  but  Fd  die  right  here  in  the  corporate  limits  of 
this  city  unless  I  acted  on  my  decision,  and  took  a  train  and 
went.  Don't  you  see?  And,  then,  I  donH  consider  a  ques- 
tion decided  in  any  sense  at  all  until  it  is  decided  in  the  sense 
that  I  act  upon  my  decision.  And  I  speak  it  reverently,  my 
brethren  of  the  ministry,  and  my  brethren  in  Christ,  to- 
night; I  speak  it  reverently;  but  God  himself  canH  help  a 
man  to  be  good  until  the  man  decides  and  starts  out  on  his 
decision.  My  theology  is  this — I  havenH  got  much,  but  I 
have  got  enough,  thank  God,  to  keep  me  straight  if  I  keep 
up  with  it — and  that  is  this: 

SAM  JONES'  THEOLOGY. 

God  Almighty  cannot  make  any  man  a  good  man,  and  the 
devil  cannot  make  him  bad.  God  can  help  folks  to  be  good, 
and  the  devil  can  help  them  to  be  bad,  too.  If  God  could 
arbitrarily  make  anybody  good,  he  would  make  them  good, 
because  he  wishes  us  all  to  be  good  ;  and  if  the  devil  could 
arbitrarily  make  anybody  bad,  we  would  all  be  bad,  because 
he  wants  us  all  to  be  bad;  and  if  you  want  to  be  good  the 
Lord  will  help  you,  and  if  you  want  to  be  bad  the  devil  will 
help  you.  Now — I  speak  it  reverently — God  won't  help  a 
a  man  to  be  good  unless  the  man  decides  to  be  good. 

A  PLAIN  APPLICATION. 

Let  us  take  a  common  sense  view  of  this  subject.  Here  is 
a  father  and  he  has  a  son,  and  he  wants  to  make  a  farmer  out 
of  that  boy.  What  will  he  do  now  ?  Well,  he  goes  out  here 
ten  miles,  buys  a  thousand  acres  of  land  and  stocks  the  farm, 
employs  hands,  furnishes  the  house,  and  says,  ''Son,  now  sir, 
there  is  the  plantation  and  it  is  stocked,  and  there  are  j^our 
hands  ;  now  go  ahead  to  farm  it."  The  boy,  spending  every 


What  are   You   Waiting  For?  443 

day  in  the  week  in  St,  Louis  here  in  the  saloons,  spending 
all  his  time  here  in  the  city,  has  never  been  out  on  the  farm 
and  never  intends  to  go.  That  father  is  making  a  farmer  out 
of  him  with  a  vengeance — isn't  he?  How  will  a  man  make 
a  farmer  out  of  his  boy  by  buying  some  land  and  buying 
some  stock,  when  that  boy  wonH  go  to  it,  won't  look  at  it, 
and  won't  touch  it  ? 

ANOTHER  ILLUSTRATION. 

Here  is  a  father  going  to  make  a  lawyer  out  of  his  boy. 
He  buys  every  law  book  extant,  and  builds  an  office,  and 
puts  all  the  best  law  books  in  the  office,  and  locks  it,  and 
gives  the  boy  the  key  and  says:  ''  Son,  I'm  going  to  make 
a  lawyer  out  of  you.  I  have  built  that  office  and  have  stock- 
ed it  with  law  books  for  your  use."  And  the  boy  puts  the 
key  in  his  pocket,  and  twelve  months  have  passed,  and  he 
hasn't  been  in  that  office  one  day,  and  he  hasn't  looked  in  a 
law  book.  He  is  making  a  lawyer  out  of  his  boy  !  And  if  a 
father  cannot  make  a  lawyer  out  of  his  boy  until  he  has  de- 
cided to  become  a  lawyer,  how  can  he  help  him  !  If  he  can- 
not make  a  farmer  out  of  his  boy  until  he  has  decided  to 
become  a  farmer,  how  can  he  help  him?  If  God  cannot 
make  a  man  good  until  he  has  decided  to  be  good,  how 
can  he  help  him  ?  ]^ow,  I  won't  say  how  much  God  has  to  do 
in  helping  you  to  decide  it,  but  it  is  a  common  sense  declara- 
tiovi  that  God  helps  no  man  to  be  good  until  he  decides  to  be 
good, 

COMMON-SENSE  RELIGION. 

And  I  tell  you  another  thing :  Whenever  a  man  chooses  to 
begood— God  throwsthedeciding  point  on  aman's  will— "who- 
soever will" — you  choose  this  day  and  say,  *'I  will  choose 
to  be  good" — then  you  can  command  the  resources  of  God's 
omnipotence  and  love  ;  but  until  you  decide  to  be  good,  God 
himself  cannot  help  you  to  be  good.  That  is  common-sense 
theology.  And  I  do  believe  you  can  mix  common-sense  and 
religion,  and  I  do  believe  that  when  you  mix  them  it  is  the 
best  compound  you  ever  looked  at — common-sense  and  re- 
ligion mixed  up  in  equal  parts — and  then  you  have  a  man 
that  loves  God  and  humanity.  And  God  says,"  "  Whosoever 
will."  He  throws  it  on  your  will ;  and  says,  "  Whatsoever 
you  choose."  He  tells  you  to  choose;  and  when  you  do 
choose  he  throws  his  omnij^otence  to  help  you,  and  decides 


444  What  are  You  Waiting  For? 

the  question.     And  until  you  decide  it,  there  is  no  use  dis- 
cussing the  question  at  all. 

WAITING  FOR  BETTER  TERMS. 

But  the  man  says,  "Well,  really,  I  am  not  waiting  for  time 
to  decide  this.  There  is  no  use  discussing  that.  I  am  wait- 
ing for  better  terms.  I  tell  you,  the  terms,  the  conditions  of 
salvation,  are  pretty  tough  where  a  man  has  to  give  up  every- 
thing/'   ♦ 

Well,  a  man  has  to  give  up  mighty  little  and  he  get  a  great 
deal — I  tell  you  that  much.  And  here  is  one  thing  about 
religion.  A  man  waiting  for  terms  !  I  am  so  glad  the  terms 
are  just  what  they  are.  I  am  very  glad  the  good  Lord  will  nev- 
er take  any  man  into  his  kingdom  until  that  man  decides  to 
"cease  to  do  evil  and  learn  to  do  well.''  Suppose  the  Lord 
had  said  to  me  when  I  was  seeking  religion,  "  You  needn't 
give  up  drinking.  You  can  be  my  child  and  just  drink  on." 
I  would  be  in  a  drunkard's  grave  this  moment  if  he  had  said 
that.  I  am  so  glad  I  threw  down  the  cup  and  told  my  Lord, 
"I  have  taken  my  last  drink." 

SOMETHING  TO  BE  GLAD  OE. 

I  am  so  glad  that  God  Almighty  don't  take  a  man  into  the 
kingdom  until  the  man  has  quit  everything  that  could  dis- 
grace him  in  time,  or  harm  him  in  time,  or  damn  him  in  etern- 
ity. I  am  not  going  to  stand  here  and  say  that  some  things 
were  not  hard  for  me  to  give  up  ;  but  I  will  stand  here  and 
say  this  much  :  I  have  heard  some  people  talk  about  sacrifi- 
ces. Blessed  Christ !  Blessed  Saviour!  I  have  never  made 
a  sacrifice  to  Thee,  and  to-day  I  stand  here  with  the  con- 
sciousness and  utter  it,  there  is  no  cross  for  me  now.  I  used 
to  sing — 

Simply  to  the  cross  I  cling — 

I  have  sung  that  many  a  time,  and  I  thank  God  for  the  priv- 
ilege of  singing  it  j  but  my  song  all  the  day  now  is  : 
Safe  in  the  arms  of  Jesus. 
It  is  a  prostrate,  it  is  a  recumbent,  it  is  a  resting  posture. 

A  SMALL  SACRIFICE. 

Sacrifice !  Fourteen  years  ago  I  emptied  a  whole  lot  of 
dirt  out  of  my  pockets  and  God  filled  them  up  with  diamonds, 
and  shall  I  go  around  here  saying:  "I  had  to  give  away  a 


Wliat  are  You  Waiting  For?  445 

whole  lot  of  dirt  to  get  apocket-full  of  diamonds."  Is'ntthat 
a  nice  thing  to  give  up  ?  Talk  about  sacrifice  !  Well,  I  gave 
up  dancing,  God  being  my  judge,  I  gave  it  up ;  I  gave  up 
dram  drinking,  I  gave  up  profanity,  I  gave  up  everj'thing 
that  my  preacher  said  was  wrong,  and  I  tell  you  what:  I 
have  in  place  of  it  joy  and  peace  in  this  world,  and  bright, 
everlasting  peace  in  the  world  to  come. 

Why,  suppose  I  danced  on  and  drank  on  and  enjoyed  the 
world,  and  then,  as  I  walked  through  the  lurid  flames  of 
damnation  with  some  poor,  lost  fellow  like  myself,  he  and  I 
locked  arms  and  said, '' Well,  I  could  have  got  to  heaven, 
but  I  could  not  give  up  dancing.  I  am  here  in  hell  forever, 
but  I  tell  you  I  danced  with  more  pretty  girls  and  drank 
more  champagne  and  had  more  fun  than  any  fellow  you  ever 
saw  in  your  life.     Clear  the  pit." 

A   SUGGESTION. 

If  some  of  you  ain't  going  to  do  something  better  than 
you  are  doing,  that's  where  you're  going,  and  you  might  just 
as  well  cut  your  patching  on  that  line,  and  just  enjoy  this 
world  all  you  can — that's  my  candid  advice.  If  I  hadn't  made 
up  my  mind  to  give  myself  to  God  and  go  to  heaven  at  any 
cost,  I  would  have  all  the  fun  there  is  in  this  world.  I  would 
that. 

'^  I  am  waiting  for  better  terms.  I  am  waiting  till  God  lets 
the  terms  down,  so  I  can  curse  a  little  when  I  get  mad,  or 
drink  a  little  at  Christmas,  or  when  I  go  fishing,  or  have  a 
good  time  in  the  parlors.  I  want  to  drink  a  little,  I  want 
the  terms  to  come  down  some;  it's  up  too  high." 

Oh,  foolish  thing ! 

don't  like  a  no-fence  law  in  religion. 
I  like  this  no-fence  law  they  have  down  in  Georgia.  Every 
man  has  to  keep  up  his  stock,  and  the  planters  turn  out  at  their 
own  risk.  I  like  that  when  it  comes  to  physical  agricul- 
ture; but.  Lord  bless  you,  when  it  comes  to  religion,  no  no- 
fence  law  for  me.  I  want  God  Almighty  to  make  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  with  a  ten-rail  fence,  stake  and  rider,  all 
around.  I  want  the  devil's  goats  fenced  out;  I  don't  want 
them  turned  loose  with  us.  I  say  to  every  man:  ^' If  you 
don't  want  to  get  up  where  you  can  get  into  the  kingdom  of 
God,  you  stay  out."     God  knows  I  would  not  lower  the 


446 


What  are  You  Waiting  For? 


standard  one-half  inch.  I  would  not.  I  have  to  deny  my- 
self and  struggle  to  the  top  of  yonder  hill,  but,  blessed  be  God, 
when  I  have  struggled  on  and  pulled  on — and  I  have  pulled 
loads  that  would  break  me  down — and  I  have  fallen  down 
the  shafts  many  a  time  panting  for  breath,  with  shoulders 
all  sore,  and  I  have  told  God  I  could  not  pull  another  inch — 
'■'•  My  God,  I  am  broken  down" — the  good  Lord  would  come 
and  pour  his  grace  into  my  soul  and  the  water  of  life  all 
over  me,  and  then  tell  me,  '■'■  Get  up  now  and  I  will  push  for 
you;"  and  the  Lord  God  has  pushed  me  up  some  of  the 
steepest  places  on  my  route  to  that  hill  of  glory. 

THE   VALUE   OF  DENIAL. 

And,  brothers,  I  have  got  to  deny  myself  and  take  up  my 
cross  to  get  to  heaven,  and  when  I  do  get  to  heaven  I  am  go- 
ing to  be  badly  disappointed  if  it  ainH  a  grand  old  heaven. 
I  will  see  enough  in  heaven  the  first  hour  I  am  there  to  pay 
for  every  suffering  and  for  all  the  sacrifices  I  have  made  and 
everything  I  have  ever  given  up. 
Waiting  for  better  terms  !     Well,  now,  there  are  churches 

in  this  country  that 
will  take  you  on  most 
any  terms — I  don't  say 
God  will  —  there  are 
churches  here  that  will 
takeyoumostanyway. 
And  that  is  consistent 
to-day  with  the  atti- 
tude of  this  world. 
Sort  of  like  the  wom- 
an praying  for  a  hus- 
band, and  th  e  o  wl 
shouting  back  or  whis- 
pering  and  hooting 
back,  and  she  thought 
itwas  the  Lord  asking 
her,  ''Who  ?"  And  she 
said,  ''Just  anybody. 
Lord!  Anybody." 

And  there  is   many 
stretched  out,  saying. 


Whot  Who  I  W/ior    The  Old  Maid  and 
the  Owl. 

a  church  now  standing  with  its  arms 
"Give  us  anybody;  give  us  anybody  !' 


What  are  You  Waiting  For?  447 

THE   LORD   HELP   US. 

Lord  help  us  preachers  who  claim  to  be  religious  and  pro- 
claim the  gospel  of  Christ.  God  help  us  to  protect  the  king- 
dom of  Christ,  and  say,  "Unless  you  deny  yourself  and  take 
up  your  cross,  then  we  can't  take  you  and  compromise  the 
religion  of  Christ.^' 

God  help  me  !  If  I  am  a  Baptist,  I  will  be  one  all  over. 
If  I  am  a  Methodist,  I  will  be  one  all  over.  If  lam  a  Chris- 
tian, I  will  be  one  all  over.  If  I  am  a  Presbyterian,  I  will 
be  one  all  over — I  will  be  as  loyal  to  my  Church  as  angels 
are  to  God.  I  will  be  what  I  profess  to  be  and  what  my  re- 
ligion demands  I  should  be.     That's  it. 

A  DOORWAY   FOR   SIMPLE    SOULS. 

"  I  am  waiting  until  they  will  take  a  fellow  that  is  just 
about  half-way  ready.  That  is  what  I  am  waiting  for."  Now, 
if  you  are  in  earnest  about  that,  you  can  go  in.  I  don't 
think  the  Lord  will  be  hard  on  you.  There  is  a  side  door  to 
heaven,  I  have  heard,  where  idiots  and  infants  get  in,  and  I 
think  maybe  they  will  motion  you  around  to  that  side  door 
and  let  you  in  there. 

Another  one  said:  "Well,  I  am  not  waiting  for  better 
terms.  The  Lord  knows  I  want  to  be  a  good  Christian.  If 
ever  I  start  at  all  I  want  to  be  a  good  one.  I  do  not  want 
to  be  one  of  those  hypocrites  in  the  Church.  I  want  to  be 
a  grand  Christian  in  the  Church ;" — and  they  are  not  any- 
thing there. 

WAITING   FOR   THE    CHURCH   TO    GET   RIGHT. 

Another  one  says  :  "I  am  not  waiting  for  time  to  consider 
the  question,  and  I  am  not  waiting  for  better  terms,  but  I  tell 
you  what  I  am  waiting  for — I  am  waiting  for  the  Church  to 
get  right." 

And  that  is  the  biggest  fool  in  the  lot,  when  you  get  right 
down  to  him.  1  tell  him,  "You  will  be  in  hell  a  million 
years  before  the  Church  will  be  right."  And  it  will  be  a 
great  consolation  to  hira  after  being  a  million  years  in  hell 
to  know  that  the  Church  has  got  right  at  last,  won't  it  ? 

Waiting  for  the  Church  to  get  right  I  Brother,  what  have 
you  and  I  got  to  do  with  the  Church  ?  I  used  to  stand  on 
the  outside  and  say,  "  Well,  I  am  as  good  as  this  one  in  the 
Church,  and  that  one  in  the  Church."     But  I  tell  you  I  al- 


448  What  are   You   Waiting  For? 

ways  picked  out  some  little,  old,  lame,  wrinkled  case  that 
was  not  much. 

A   DISGUSTING   SIGHT. 

And  if  there  is  a  disgusting  sight  in  this  world  to  me  it  is  to 
see  a  man  calling  himself  a  gentleman  out  in  the  world,  who 
will  go  out  and  drag  one  of  those  little,  old,  lame  dwarfs  out 
into  the  road,  and  stretch  him  out  in  the  road  and  lay  himself 
by  his  side,  and  say,  ^'I  am  going  to  measure  this  fellow  and 
show  you  that  I  am  as  long  as  he  is.''  And  after  he  has  laid 
down  and  measured  himself  with  the  little  thing  he  jumps 
up  and  says,  "  I  am  just  the  same  length  as  this  fellow  in  the 
Church."  Let  me  ask  you,  '^  Why  did'nt  you  get  a  first-class 
Christian,  and  measure  with  him?"  You  take  a  first-class 
Christian  and  lay  him  down  there,  and  then,  brother,  you 
lie  down  beside  him  and  see  how  you  look.  You  would  look 
like  a  rat  terrier  lying  by  an  elephant. 

And  the  fact  of  the  business  is  we  have  got  some  sorry 
members,  and  we  got  them  from  your  side,  and  we  were 
never  able  to  do  anything  with  them,  and  you  can  take  them 
back  when  j^ou  want  them.  And  we  tell  you  right  here  that 
you  are  welcome  to  them.  And  the  reason  we  have  never 
been  able  to  do  anything  with  them  is  because  they  are  so 
much  like  you.  And  is  it  not  strange  that  you  should  put  a 
few  of  your  sortoff  onus,  and  then  make  it  a  reason  that  you 
wonH  come  up  and  live  right?  Lord  have  mercy  onus! 
That  is  the  schedule  we  are  running.  There  is  not  a  low- 
down  member  of  the  Church  we  donH  get  from  your  side,  • 
and  the  reason  they  are  not  good  members  is  because  they 
are  just  like  they  were  when  we  got  them.  We  have  never 
been  able  to  improve  them  because  they  would  not  let  us  im- 
prove them. 

WAITING   FOR   FEELING. 

Another  says:  ''I  am  not  waiting  for  the  Church  to  get 
ready.  The  Lord  knows  the  Church  is  too  good  for  me  like  it 
is.  I  will  tell  you  what  lam  waiting  for.  lam  waiting  for  feel- 
ing. Now,  as  soon  as  I  have  feeling,  then  I  tell  you  right 
plainly  I  am  going  to  move." 

As  soon  as  I  get  feeling !  I  told  you  about  a  fellow  who 
stood  in  a  wood  with  his  back  against  a  tree  one  cold,  frosty 
morning,  and  with  his  ax  resting  against  his  knee.  I  walk- 
ed up  to  him  and  said  :  ^'Friend,  good  morning." 


Wliat  are  You  Waiting  For? 


449 


'^Good  morning,"  ho  returned. 

'^What  are  you  going  to  do  ?"  I  asked. 

He  said  :  ^'I  am  going  to  cut  down  this  tree/' 

"Why  don't  you  get  at 
it?''  I  said. 

"I  am  waiting  until  I 
begin  to  sweat,"  he  said. 

I  asked  again:  "Waiting 
until  3^ou  begin  to  sweat?" 

"Yes." 

"Why  don't  you  get  up 
and  go  to  cutting,  and  you 
will  begin  to  sweat." 

"No,"  he  said,  "I'm  not 
going  to  cut  a  lick  until  I 
begin  to  sweat." 

What  are  you  going  to 
do  with  a  case  like  that? 

NOT   HYPOCRISY. 

"I  am  waiting  for  feel- 
ing ;"  and  people  think, 
"Well,  if  I  do  a  thing  that 
I  do  not  feel  like  doing,  I 
am    a    hypocrite."      That  Waiting  to  Sweat  • 

is  the  way  they  talk.  Look  here,  doctor:  When  you  were 
sent  for  the  other  night  at  midnight,  you  had  been  up  a  great 
deal  and  had  lost  a  great  deal  of  sleep,  and  when  the  sum- 
mons came  you  got  up  and  rubbed  your  eyes  and  said: 
"Wife,  I  declare  I  don't  feel  like  going."  But  you  got  out 
of  bed,  dressed  yourself  and  relieved  the  patient. 

Were  you  a  hypocrite?  You  did  not  feel  like  going,  but 
you  went  like  a  true  man  and  did  your  dut}^  Were  you  a 
hypocrite? 

Sister,  when  j^ou  get  up  in  the  morning  you  do  not  feel 
like  getting  up,  much  less  like  proceeding  to  the  table  to  at- 
tend to  your  household  duties ;  but  just  as  the  time  came  for 
you  to  rise  you  got  up  and  went  at  them.  Were  you  a  hypo- 
crite when  you  got  up  and  went  to  work,  when  you  did  not 
feel  like  it? 

Look  here,  why  cannot  we  have  just  as  much  sense  in 


450  What  are   You   Waiting  For? 

religious  matters  as  in  all  other  matters  ?     That  is  the  way 
to  talk. 

WANTED   FEELING. 

A  fellow  ruDning  on  feeling  reminds  me  of  a  man  who  had 
just  returned  from  Nashville.  A  neighbor  called  to  see  him 
and  asked : 

^'Did  you  have  a  nice  trip  ?" 

''Yes/'  was  the  reply,  "  we  made  quick  time.  "We  had  a 
pleasant  trip,  but  when  only  about  ten  miles  this  side  of 
Nashville,  I  turned  deathly  sick  and  had  to  raise  the  window 
of  the  car.'' 

''And  you  were  sick?"  the  neighbor  said. 

''I  was,  and  I  was  deadly  sick  for  about  ten  minutes." 

Well,  the  next  week  this  neighbor  finds  that  he  has  got  to 
go  to  Nashville.  Every  station  he  passes  is  right.  He  is  on 
the  Louisville  and  Nashville  cars.  It  is  an  L.  and  N.  conduc- 
tor. The  engineer  is  an  L.  and  N.  engineer  and  the  engine  is 
an  L.  and  N.  engine.  And  there  he  is  and  he  sits  there  all 
right,  perfectly  satisfied,  until  he  gets  within  ten  miles  of 
this  side  of  Nashville.  The  conductor  passed  through  the 
car,  and  he  said:  "Captain,  hold  on  and  put  me  off  this 
train." 

"What  is  the  matter?"  asked  the  conductor. 

"I  want  to  go  to  Nashville." 

"You  are  going  there  at  the  rate  of  forty  miles  an  hour." 

"No,  we  are  not." 

"What  makes  you  think  we  are  not?" 

"I  have  a  friend  who  went  to  Nashville  last  week,  and  he 
was  taken  sick  ten  miles  before  he  got  there,  and  I  know — I 
am  certain  we  are  not  on  the  right  road,  or  I  would  be  taken 
sick  here." 

WHAT    CAN   YOU   DO   WITH    HIM. 

What  are  you  going  to  do  with  a  man  like  that,  that  ain't 
got  any  sense  ?  Feeling,  feeling,  running  on  feeling.  And 
if  you  were  to  start  him  down  to  Nashville,  about  every  ten 
minutes  he  would  say,  "I  do  not  feel  like  I  am  going  to 
Nashville  ;"  and  he  would  turn  to  the  fellow  in  the  next  seat 
and  ask  him  lots  of  question  j  and  he  would  have  to  be  tied 
before  he  got  there,  and  the  passengers  would  all  go  into  the 
next  car. 

"  I  don't  know  whether  I  feel  right  about  the  matter  or 


What  are  You  Waiting  For?  451 

not.  If  I  feel  like  I  was  going  to  Nashville  I  would  be  all 
right.  But  somehow  or  other  I  do  not  feel  that  way.  Cap- 
tain, just  stop  this  train  and  put  me  off/' 

There  is  a  man  that  is  running  on  feeling.  Oh,  I  wish  we 
could  see  and  keep  good  and  sensible,  viewing  all  these 
things  as  God  intended  we  should. 

And  the  Lord  knows  that  you  are  laughing  and  showing 
merriment  here,  and  I  was  never  more  solemn  in  my  life.  I 
do  not  think  it  will  be  fun  for  some  of  you,  but  whenever 
people  see  themselves  they  laugh  at  themselves.  When  you 
holdup  a  mirror  before  them  they  quickly  form  an  estimate 
which  makes  them  laugh  at  themselves.  That  is  a  mystery 
to  me. 

Feeling!  Do  you  wait  for  feeling?  Look  here,  friends. 
What  do  you  mean  when  you  say  "  feeling?''  ^'  I  want  feel- 
ing." Do  you  mean  serious  thought  on  the  subject?  What 
do  you  mean?  What  do  you  mean  by  feeling?  That  you 
hadn't  to  blubber  and  blubber  and  blubber?  What  do  you 
mean  by  feeling?  Brethren,  if  you  mean  serious  thought, 
you  are  right.  Every  man  that  goes  to  Grod  ought  to  go 
with  serious  thought  and  prayer.  Or,  when  you  say  feeling, 
do  you  mean  an  emotional  spur  ?     Do  you  mean  that  ? 

AND    THEY   ARE   INSINCERE,    AFTER   ALL. 

I  walked  out  into  the  congregation  in  a  meeting  once,  and 
a  man  stood  there  trembling  from  head  to  foot.  I  took  hold 
of  him  by  the  hand  and  said  to  him  :  ''  Come  to  the  altar  and 
give  your  heart  to  God."  He  said  :  ''  Mr.  Jones,  Til  go  in  a 
minute,  butlain'tgot  a  bit  of  feeling."  Such  people  are  insin- 
cere in  this.  They  don't  mean  what  they  say,  and  when 
they  are  shaken  from  head  to  foot  with  what  they  call  emo- 
tional sincerity,  they  say  that  ain't  what  they  want.  Breth- 
ren, hear  me  to-night,  if  you  mean  *' serious  thought  about 
my  soul's  eternal  interest."  Every  man  ought  to  have  it. 
Serious  thought. 

WAITING   FOR   FITNESS. 

Another  one  says,  ''No,  I  am  not  waiting  for  feeling. 
I  have  found  it.  I'll  tell  you  what  I  am  waiting  for.  I 
ain't  fit  to  be  religious.  I  ain't  fit  to  be  a  Christian."  And 
they  make  that  a  reason  why  they  don't  come  to  Christ. 
"If  I  was  fit  I  would  come  !"  Brethren,  do  you  know  that  mv 

20 


452  What  are   You  Waiting  For? 

acceptance  is  the  only  thing  that  commends  me  to  Christ;  and 
if  that  man  was  fit  to  come,  then  Christ  would  wave  him 
back. 

He  came  not  to  call  the  righteous  but  sinners  to  repentance.     ^ 
And  again : 

He  loved  us  and  gave  himself  to  die  for  us. 
And  listen  again: 

It  is  a  faithful  saying  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation  that  Jesus  Christ  came 
into  the  world  to  save  sinners. 

When  it  comes  to  pleading  want  of  fitness,  the  most  intel- 
ligent lawyer  in  this  town  and  the  most  ignorant  colored 
man  are  on  the  same  level ! 

That  reminds  me  of  a  poor  fellow  that  is  absolutely  starv- 
ed to  death.  A  friend  walks  up  to  him,  takes  him  by  the 
hand  and  leads  him  up  in  five  steps  to  a  heavily-loaded  ta- 
ble, with  every  luxury  on  it. 

He  says,  "Friend,  are  you  hungry?" 

*' Never  was  more  hungry  in  my  life." 

He  says^  "There  is  a  table  loaded  with  every  luxury; 
walk  up  and  eat." 

"JS-o." 

"Why?" 

"Because  my  hands  ain't  fit." 

"  Here    is   soap,  water  and  towel.     Wash  your  hands." 

"No." 

"Why?" 

"  Because  they  ain't  fit  to  be  washed." 

And  there  he  stands,  starving  to  death,  with  plenty  within 
his  reach,  because  he  ain't  fit  to  eat  and  because  his  hands 
ain't  fit  to  be  washed. 

I  go  and  tell  yonder  man  to  give  himself  to  the  Church  of 
God.     He  says: 

"I  ain't  fit." 

"  Why? 

"  I  ain't  fitten  to  get  fit;"  and  he  stands  there  starving  to 
death. 

"Now  that  is  true,  and  you  needn't  laugh.  The  Lord  knows 
we  ought  to  be  grave  over  these  things,  for  that  is  what  we 
have  been  doing  for  years  and  years — that  very  thing. 

There  he  stands  and  dies.     It  is  a  sad  thing. 


What  are   You   Waiting  For  f    •  453 

KNOWS  HE  isn't  FIT. 

Another  one  says:  ''Well,  I  know  Fm  not  fit.  I  can  see 
that.  My  wife  sees  it.  My  neighbors  can  see  that.  My 
heart  is  harder  now  than  last  year,  and  my  will  is  more  ob- 
durate than  it  was  last  year,  and  the  truth  of  the  business  is 
there's  no  use  in  my  putting  up  such  a  story  as  that  3  for 

If  I  tarry  till  I'm  better, 
I  shall  never  come  at  all." 

And  bless  God  for  this  old  hymn — this  old  verse  —  this 
grand  old  verse  : 

All  the  fitness  he  requireth 
Is  to  feel  my  need  of  him. 

The  money,  the  influence  that  buy  a  ticket  to  Grod's  table 
is  the  fact  that  you  are  hungry.  The  only  thing  that  com- 
mends you  to  the  outgushing  waters  of  life  is  the  fact  that 
you  are  thirsty.     DonH  you  see  ? 

All  the  fitness  he  requireth 
Is  to  feel  our  need  of  him. 

WANTS  TO  GO  CLEAR  THROUGH. 

Another  man  says  :  ''  Well,  a  man  ought  not  to  talk  about 
being  fit,  for  the  Lord  knows  we  are  all  unfit,  and  that's 
the  reason  we  are  where  we  are  to-day  ;  but  I  tell  you  what 
Tm  waiting  for :  Tm  waiting  till  I  get  enough  religion  to 
take  me  through  before  I  make  any  start  at  all.  Because,  I 
tell  you,  Tve  seen  the  beginning  andendingof  so  many  good 
I'eligious  lives,  Tm  afraid  to  start  on  a  small  capital.'' 

I've  been  right  there  many  a  time  in  my  thoughts.  Oh, 
how  it  did  trouble  me  to  think  I  had  joined  the  church,  and 
"hight  run  well  for  awhile,  like  some  of  them,  and  then  quit. 
That  bothered  me  a  great  deal.  There's  a  stumbling  block 
to  a  good  many  minds  there.  But  let's  see  how  it  looks. 
'Tm  going  to  wait  till  I  get  religion  enough  to  run  me 
through  before  I  start."     I  illustrate  it  this  way. 

THE  ILLUSTRATION. 

I  was  standing  in  Atlanta,  in  the  great  Union  Depot 
there.  The  engines  stand  out  from  under  the  shed  a  few  feet 
and  the  passenger  coaches  under  the  depot.  That  day,  be- 
fore our  train  left  on  the  State  Eoad,  I  walked  outround  the 
engine.  I  wanted  to  look  at  the  magnificent  engine  that  was 
going  to  pull  us  to  our  destination.      I  walked  around  the 


454  What  are   You   Waiting  For? 

engine,  and  the  engineer  was  oiling  his  engine  all  round, 
and  he  looked  up  at  the  cab  of  the  engine  and  said  to  the 
fireman :  *'  Have  you  got  enough  steam  to  start  with  ?"  And 
the  fireman  looked  at  the  gauge  and  said,  '^  Yes."  I  threw 
my  eye  round  on  the  gauge,  and  he  had  70  or  80  pounds  of 
steam.  I  said  to  myself:  ^' Well,  that  engine  carries  180 
pounds  of  steam  and  she  has  138  miles  to  pull  this  heavy 
train.  I  wonder  what  that  man  is  thinking  about,  pulling 
out  with  less  than  80  pounds.     That  wonH  do." 

In  about  two  minutes  he  reversed  the  lever  of  his  engine 
and  drove  her  back  to  couple  her  on  to  the  eight  or  ten 
coaches,  and  the  bell  rang  and  the  engineer  pushed  his  lever 
forward  and  pulled  his  throttle  open,  and  the  engine  began 
to  move  out  and  out.  And  when  we  got  out  six  miles,  near- 
ly, to  the  Chattahoochee  Eiver,  one  of  those  short  cuts  and 
curves,  I  pushed  my  head  out  of  the  window  and  I  saw  the 
engine  was  blowing  off.  Her  safety  valve  was  lifted  and  she 
was  blowing  off  steam.  She  had  more  than  she  wanted,  more 
thanl80pounds.  And  I  said:  "Well,that  engineer  never  ask- 
ed the  fireman,  did  he  have  steam  enough  torun  to  the  river, 
that  seven  miles;  nor  whether  he  had  enough  to  run  him  to 
Cartersville,  about  fifty  miles;  nor  whether  he  had  enough  to 
run  him  into  Chattanooga,  140  miles;  buthesays:  'Haveyou 
got  enough  to  start  with  !  If  you  have,  off  we  go  and  away 
we  start.^  "  An  engine  generates  steam  faster  running  than 
she  does  standing  still,  and  she  only  ran  seven  miles  before 
she  was  blowing  off.  Suppose  that  engineer  had  staid  there 
on  his  engine  till  he  had  got  steam  enough  to  run  to  Chat- 
tanooga, about  138  miles;  if  he  had  tried  to  compress  enough 
steam  in  that  boiler  to  have  run  him  that  138  miles,  he 
would  have  blown  that  engine  into  10,000  pieces.  He  couldn't 
have  helped  it. 

ENOUGH  TO  START  WITH. 

And  there's  a  man  out  there.  He  says  :  ^'  I  want  enough 
religion  to  carry  me  through  to  glory  before  I'll  move  a 
wheel." 

Well,  brother,  if  the  Lord  were  to  come  down  and  com- 
press enough  religion  to  carry  you  clear  through  to  glory 
into  that  little  soul  of  yours,  it  would  blow  it  into  10,000 
pieces — you  couldn't  hold  it.  And  all  a  man  wants  in  this 
universe  is  to  get  enough  to  start  with. 


Wiat  are  You  Waiting  For?  465 

Well,  wiiat^s  enough  to  start  with  ?  Wrong  is  wrong  and 
ril  quit  it.  Right  is  right  and  I'm  going  to  do  it.  Now, 
there's  enough  to  start  with.  There's  enough.  Brother, 
just  pull  the  throttle  and  you'll  start  up,  and  you'll  not  run 
ten  miles  toward  the  celestial  city  before  j^ou'll  be  shouting 
praise  to  God  and  have  more  religion  than  you  can  hold. 
That's  true. 

'^  Waiting  to  get  enough  to  carry  me  through  before  I 
start."  Now,  brother,  hear  me  to-night.  Every  man  of  us 
has  grace  enough  to  make  a  start.  And  it  seems  to  me,  some- 
times, brother,  that  when  I  started  I  had  none  at  all  and  you 
had  to  take  a  crowbar  and  punch  my  engine  along  to  get  a 
start  at  all.  Oh,  all  I  had  in  the  universe  was,"  I'm  lost! 
I'm  ruined  !  And  I've  promised  my  dying  father  I'll  quit  my 
ways  and  go  to  him  in  heaven. '^     That's  all  I  had. 

Well,  we  have  already  taken  up  nearly  an  hour  of  the  time 
with  the  fiistpart  of  the  text.  Now,  brother,  is  it  right 
to  wait  for  time  to  consider  this  question?  Is  it  right  for 
us  to  wait  for  better  terms  ?  Is  it  right  for  us  to  wait  for  the 
churches  to  get  right?  Is  it  right  for  us  to  wait  for  feeling? 
Is  it  right  for  us  to  wait  till  we  are  fit?  Is  it  right  for  us  to 
wait  till  we  can  get  religion  enough  to  take  us  clear  through  ? 

A   STARTLING   INTERRUPTION. 

At  this  moment  Dr.  Brookes  stepped  to  the  front  of  the 
platform,  and  said  :  '^  Here  is  a  comment  on  our  brother's 
earnest  talk.  I  have  a  note  for  a  person  probably  in  this 
house,  it  is  supposed — Mr.  Buckingham.  He  is  wanted  im- 
mediately at  the  door.  His  father  is  dead  !  And  this  is  a 
sort  of  solemn  comment  on  this  earnest  appeal  to  you  to 
make  this  start  now,  and  not  to  put  it  off." 

A  gentleman  sitting  in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  tran- 
sept of  the  church  arose  hurriedly,  and,  with  one  or  two 
friends,  left  the  church  in  response  to  the  sad  announcement 
made  by  Dr.  Brookes.  As  soon  as  the  momentary  excite- 
mentsubsided  Bro.  Jones  said  : 

MAKE    UP   YOUR    MIND    AND    DON't    WAIT. 

Oh,  this  latter  clauseof  this  text  comes  in  now  with  a  great 
deal  of  force. 

What  wait  I  for?  My  hope  is  in  God. 

Wow,  brothers,  let's  pay  special  attention  to  this  point. 


456  What  are  You  Waiting  For? 

Give  me  your  attention  for  a  few  minutes,  and  let's  see  if  we 
can't  decide:  ''I'll  wait  no  longer.     There's  no  reason  for 
waiting,  but  ten  thousand  reasons  why  I  ought  not  to  wait 
a  single  moment."     And  now  hear  me  : 
What  wait  I  for? 

Said  the  Psalmist: 
For  my  hope  is  in  God. 

Thank  God!  My  hope  is  in  him.  If  my  hope  was  in 
stocks  and  bonds  and  I  had  all  the  world  could  give,  those 
stocks  and  bonds  might  take  unto  themselves  wings  and 
fly  awp^y  from  me,  and  then  my  hope  is  gone  forever. 

Suppose  mj^  hope  was  in  my  father;  and  my  father  has 
been  buried  fourteen  years !  My  hope  is  buried  fourteen 
years ! 

Suppose  my  hope  was  in  my  precious  mother!  For  nearly 
thirty  years  precious  mother  has  been  buried  !  My  hope  in 
the  ground  for  thirty  years  ! 

Suppose  my  hope  was  in  my  wife  !  And  she  has  been  all 
the  world  to  me.  Since  the  day  God  gave  her  to  me  she 
has  been  like  a  crutch  under  each  one  of  my  arms  to  hold 
me  up.  But  suppose  my  wife  should  die  or  by  a  railroad 
accident  to-night  should  be  cut  off  in  a  minute;  my  hope  is 
gone  forever. 

Suppose  my  hope  was  in  my  children!  The  time  might 
come  when  I  would  kiss  the  cold  lips  of  the  last  childlhave 
in  the  world;  and  then  my  hope  is  gone  forever. 

Suppose  my  hope  was  in  preachers  !  The  time  might  come 
when  every  one  would  turn  their  backs  on  me  and  forsake 
me;  and  then  my  hope  is  departed. 

Suppose  my  hope  was  in  the  Church  !  The  time  might 
come  when  the  Church  would  drive  me  from  her  pews  and 
forbid  me  to  enter  her  doors  ;  and  then  my  hope  has  vanished 
away. 

If  my  hope  was  in  angels,  the  time  might  come  when  I 
would  lose  their  sympathy,  and  they  would  leave  me;  and 
then  my  hope  is  gone  forever. 

If  my  hope  was  in  my  friends  around  me;   then  those 
friends  might  all  depart  and  leave  me. 
A  man's  sure  hope. 
But,  brother,  here  to-night  my  hope  is  not  in  wife.     It  is 
not  in  children.     It  is  iiot  in  neighbors.     It  is  not  in  the 


What  are  You  Waiting  For?  457 

Church.  It  is  not  in  preachers.  It  is  not  in  angels.  But 
my  hope  is  in  Grod,  who  is  my  trust  and  my  portion  forever. 

Brother,  do  you  know  that  a  man  is  just  as  strong  as  the 
thing  he  commits  himself  to,  that  he  trusts  himself  to? 

Why,  if  I  start  to  cross  the  Atlantic  Ocean  in  a  paper  box, 
just  as  soon  as  my  box  gets  wet  and  goes  to  pieces,  I'll  go 
down  with  it.  If  I  start  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean  in  a 
grand  old  ocean  steamer,  then  all  the  strength  of  her  hull, 
and.  all  the  power  in  her  boilers,  and  all  the  comfort  of  her 
cabin,  is  mine,  and  I'll  never  go  down  till  she  does.  If  I 
commit  myself  to  the  arm  of  flesh,  I  am  no  stronger  than 
the  arm  I  commit  myself  to  ;  but  if  I  commit  myself  to  God 
rU  never  go  down  until  God  goes  down.  Blessed  be  his 
holy  name.  The  man  who  puts  his  trust  in  God  is  as  strong 
as  God.  He  can  live  like  God,  and  he  can  conquer  like  God, 
and  he  can  triumph  like  God,  and  he  shall  live  with  God 
forever.     Blessed  be  the  name  of  God;  my  hope  is  in  him., 

TRUSTING   IN    GOD. 

But  they  say:  "Why,  ain't  you  afraid  to  start?  You're 
mighty  weak." 

"Yes,"  I  say,  "I'm  mighty  weak,  but  my  hope  is  in  God." 

They  say:  "Look  here;  you'll  be  tempted  all  the  way 
along." 

"  Well,  I  know  I  will,  but  my  hope  is  in  God." 

"Yes,  but  there'll  be  ten  thousand  trials  along  your  path- 
way !" 

"I  know  that,  but  my  hope  is  in  God." 

And  brother,  now :  "If  you  want  to  go  to  God,  just  lift 
your  hands  up,  and  just  take  hold  of  the  hand  of  God,  and 
say:  "  Father,  lead  me  into  the  life  everlasting."  And  to 
have  your  hand  in  the  hand  of  God  is  not  only  a  post  of  hon- 
or, but  it  is  also  a  post  of  safety. 

Brother,  think  about  this  to-night  and  let  every  one  of  us 
say,  '"'I  know  I  have  no  strength  of  my  own,  but  my  hope  is 
in  God,  and  I'm  not  afraid  to  start." 

THE   WAGON-SHOP   PARABLE. 

Oh,  poor  humanity,  so  afraid  it  can't  hold  out !  Well, 
brother,  I  reckon  I  have  been  as  afraid  along  there  as  any* 
body,  but  the  way  I  conceive  the  gospel  to  be  to-night,  it  is 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  succession  of  wagon  shops  on 


458  Wliat  are  You  Waiting  Forf 

the  way  to  glory,  just  remedial  all  along.  Here,  fourteen 
years  ago,  I  run  my  old  broken-down  wagon  of  humanity 
right  up  under  the  cross.  I  don't  think  it  would  have  rolled 
ten  feet  further  until  it  would  have  gone  all  to  pieces  for- 
ever. I  got  it  clear  up  under  the  wagon-shop  at  the  cross. 
Well,  sir,  it  wasn't  there  but  a  few  minutes  until  it  was  made 
all  new  from  bottom  to  top  3  and  then  I  hitched  up  my  reso- 
lutions to  it  and  drove  off,  and  I  said  :  ^^Thank  God  for  roll- 
ing stock  that  will  take  me  clear  through  to  glory.  I'm  all 
right  now."     And  I  drove  off. 

I  hadn't  gone  a  mile  till  I  made  a  miss-drive,  somehow  or 
other,  and  struck  a  stump,  and  smashed  one  wheel  all  to 
pieces.  And  I  said  :  ^' Well,  just  look  at  that.  Ain't  no  use 
me  trying  to  go  anywhere.  Broke  down  already  !"  Well, 
I  was  just  about  to  give  up  and  turn  round  and  start  back, 
but  about  that  time  I  looked  up  at  the  side  of  the  road  and 
a  kind,  benevolent-looking  gentleman  says: 

^'Bring  that  wheel  up  here.  I  run  th^s  shop  in  the  inter- 
ests of  fellows  breaking  down  going  the  road  that  you  are 
going." 

And  I  took  off  my  wheel  and  carried  it  up  to  the  shop  and 
he  fixed  it  good  as  new — better,  maybe — and  I  put  it  on  and 
said : 

''What  do  you  charge  ?" 

He  said  :  ''  Don't  charge  anything  ;  only  I  charge  you  es- 
pecially that  if  you  break  down  again,  you  go  to  the  first 
shop  on  the  way."  And  he  said  again  :  "You  can't  break 
down  out  of  sight  of  a  shop  all  the  way.  Now  recollect 
that." 

A   BROKEN   AXLE. 

Well,  I  drove  off.  I  said  :  ''^^Tow,  I  ain't  going  to  break 
down  any  more.  I'm  going  to  mind  what  I'm  about."  And 
I  drove  off. 

I  hadn't  got  two  miles  further  till  I  run  into  a  gully  there 
and  broke  the  axle  right  square  off,  and  I  said  :  "Well !  just 
look  at  that !  I'll  turn  round  and  go  back.  I'm  disgusted  at 
myself,  I  am ;  and  just  look  at  me  !"  I  was  in  utter  despair. 
I  thought  I  would  give  up  and  quit;  but,  blessed  be  God! 
about  the  time  I  was  going  to  despair  I  thought  about  what 
that  kind  old  man  said,  and  I  looked  up  at  the  roadside  and 
another  man  motioned  his  hand  and  said: 


What  are  You  Waiting  For? 


459 


The  Gospel  Wagon  Shop. 


*' Bring  that  axle  up  here.  Fm  running  this  shop  in  the 
interest  of  parties  broken  down  in  the  direction  you  are  go- 
ing." 

I  took  my  axle  up  and 
got  it  fixed,  and  I  said  : 

''What  is  the  charge?" 

"Nothing,  only  be 
mighty  careful  now. 
There's  danger  all 
along." 

GOING   TO    BE    CAREFUL 
NOW. 

I  drove  off  and  I  said, 
"Well,  now,  I  will  watch 
what  Tm  doing  from  this 
time  on.  Til  look  now  how  Fm  going  sure.  This  way  of 
being  mended  up  every  two  or  three  miles  of  the  way  don't 
quite  suit  me."     And  I  drove  off. 

And  directly,  I  was  making  a  short  turn,  sir,  and  snap  went 
the  tongue,  right  square  off  my  wagon  ;  and  I  said  : 

"FU  give  up  and  quit.  There  ain't  any  use  me  talking 
about  doing  anything.  Why,  just  look  here,  I'm  breaking 
down  every  mile  or  two." 

And  I  was  just  about  to  give  up  again  when  I  looked  up, 
and  there  was  another  shop,  and  the  man  said  . 

"  Bring  that  tongue  up  here."  He  waved  his  hand  to  me 
and  said:  "Fm  running  this  shop  in  the  interest  of  men 
that  break  tongues  off  wagons  in  the  direction  you  are  go- 
ing." 

A    GRAND    SUMMARY. 

And,  brother,  I  want  to  say  this  to  you:  There  hasn't 
been  a  day  since  I  started  that  I  havn't  been  in  the  shop  to 
repair.  And  I  can  say  this  much:  Sometimes  I  have  driven 
along  ten  miles  and  never  broke  anything,  and  then  struck 
a  rough  piece  of  road  ;  and  the  rougher  the  road  the  thicker 
the  shops  all  along.  And  I  have  been  troubled  sometimes  to 
know  whether  the  shops  would  hold  out.  Some  time  ago  I 
walked  up  by  the  side  of  an  old,  dying  Christian  man  and 
said  : 

"  Brother,  do  the  shops  hold  out?" 


460  J\^at  are   You   Waiting  For? 

He  said,  ^'  Yes,  glory  to  God  ;  it  hasn't  been  ten  minutes 
since  I  was  in  the  shop,  and  I've  got  the  last  finishing  touch, 
and  I'll  ride  into  glory  now.'' 

Blessed  be  God,  no  soul  ever  broke  down  out  of  sight  of 
the  shop  all  along  the  way.  And  let  us  come  to-night,  God 
helping  us,  and  roll  our  broken  down  wagons  into  the  shop 
of  the  cross,  and  have  them  repaired,  and  then  let  us  drive 
on,  and  on,  and  on,  and  some  of  these  days  I  shall  light  off 
this  old  wagon  of  humanity  and  I  shall  be  in  heaven. 

And  if  ever  I  get  to  heaven,  and  my  mother  runs  and 
throws  her  arms  around  my  neck  and  says:  "  Son,  I  con- 
gratulate you  on  your  quick  trip  to  heaven  ;"  and  my  father 
says :  ''  Son,  I'm  glad  you  kept  your  promise  f  and  my 
friends  there  remark  on  my  safe  trip  to  the  good  world,  I 
shall  tell  them: 

"Friends,  all  of  you  hush  !  I  have  had  very  little  to  do 
with  this  thing.  Where  is  the  Lord  Jesus?  Show  me  to 
him,  and  I  will  show  you  the  divine  being  that  went  out  and 
sought  me,  a  poor  wandering  sheep,  and  when  he  found  me 
poor  and  starved  and  tired  and  hungry  and  lost,  he  didn't 
scold  me;  he  didn't  upbraid  me;  he  didn't  take  a  club  and 
beat  me;  but  he  walked  up  to  me  and  put  his  arms  close 
around  me  and  laid  me  upon  his  shoulder,  and  brought  me 
safe  to  peace,  and  finally  safe  to  heaven." 

THE   LAST   APPEAL. 

Precious  Christ,  seek  these  lost  sheep  to-night  and  help 
them  to  the  cross.  Brothers,  won't  you  be  saved  ?  I'm  sorry 
there  has  been  anything  like  levity.  I  don't  believe  it  has 
been  levity  at  all !  I  have  never  felt  more  serious  in  any 
discussion  in  my  life.  God  help  you  to-night  to  decide: 
"Others  doing  as  they  may,  I  intend  to  give  myself  to 
God  to-night.  Why  wait  for  anything?  God  is  my  hope, 
and  he  is  strong  enough  to  take  care  of  me,  and  I'll  just 
put  my  hands  in  his  to-night."  Won't  you  say  that?  God 
help  you  all  to  say  that  to-night! 


^Ef^MON  XXV. 

'pUF(    pURDENg    y\ND    ^UR    ^UPPOF(T, 


Cast  thy  "burden  upon  the  Lord  and  he  will  sustain  thee.    He  will  never 
suffer  the  righteous  to  be  moved. — Psalms  55 ;  22. 

SUPPOSE  the  greatest  curiosity  that  could  be  presented  to 
the  gaze  of  this  world  would  be  an  unburdened  human 
heart — a  heart  perfectly  free  from  every  care  and  every  bur- 
den and  every  anxiety.  Four  thousand  years  ago  and  more 
a  wise  man  of  God  said  : 

"Man  is  born  unto  trouble  as  the  sparks  fly  upward." 
Just  as  naturally  as  the  sparks  ascend  from  the  burning 
wood,  so  naturally  is  man  subjected  to  trouble.  And  after 
all,  the  great  question  of  the  philosopher  is  not,  how  many 
troubles  I  have,  but  it  is  wisdom  to  classify  troubles  in  one 
sense,  aud  then  to  know  what  to  do  with  them.  I  grant  you 
there  are  a  great  many  imaginary  troubles  in  this  world. 
We  are  always  looking  for  something  Ave'll  never  see;  we 
are  always  going  out  to  meet  something  that  is  not  coming 
toward  us;  we  are  always  expecting  something  that  will 
never  happen.  That  is  human  nature.  And  I  reckon  the 
first  thing  we  had  better  do  to-night — because  it  has  much  to 
do  with  the  text  and  with  the  discussion — is  to  classify  our 
troubles.  The  imaginary  we'll  call  the  one  class,  the  real 
we'll  call  the  other  class. 

IMAGINARY   TROUBLES. 

Imaginary  troubles  !  Home-made  trouble,  we  sometimes 
call  this  class  of  troubles.  And  home-made  trouble  is  like 
home-made  jeans  and  home-made  shoes — they  outlast  any 
other  sort,  and  frequently  last  till  we  are  heartily  tired  of 
them.  Now,  what  do  I  mean  by  home-made  trouble,  bor- 
rowed imaginary  trouble  ?  I  can  illustrate  it  faster  than  I 
can  present  it  in  any  other  way. 

Well,  say  here  is  a  good  mother,  a  kind-hearted  woman, 
461 


462 


Our  Burdens  and  Our  J^upport. 


to  say  nothing  of  her  strong  mind.  Her  little  children,  from 
sixteen,  fourteen  years  old  down,  come  and  say,  "  Mamma, 
let's  hitch  up  old  John  and  drive  over  to  Mrs.  Brown's  this 
evening,  or  up  to  Mrs.  Smith's,  or  let  us  go  out  riding." 

And,  kind-hearted  mother,  she  says,  '^Well,  children,  all 
right." 

She  knows  old  John  is  perfectly  safe.  He  is  a  roted  ani- 
mal.    Every  man  in  the  community  knows  old  John,     And, 


Old  John  and  the  Children. 

oh,  what  a  valuable  animal  he  is,  because  of  being  so  trust- 
worthy; so  gentle!  Some  of  the  little  children  can  go  down 
into  the  lot  and  climb  up  his  legs,  he  is  so  humble,  and  they 
can  hitch  him  up  to  a  sleigh  or  buggy  or  anything ;  and  real- 
ly, when  the  children  come  around  him  on  the  lot  and  play 
about  him,  as  he  puts  his  foot  down  he  seems  to  shake  it  and 
see  whether  any  of  ;the  little  fellows'  fingers  or  feet  are  un- 
der his  hoof.  Eeally,  old  John  has  learned  to  love  the  chil- 
dren, and  he  seems  to  think  as  much  of  them  as  mother  does. 


Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support,  463 

THEY    HITCH   UP. 

And  this  is  the  horse  they  hitch  up.  And  nothing  is  thought 
until  the  clock  strikes  four — that  is  the  hour  they  promised 
to  be  back — and  mother  looks  up  and  says  : 

''The  children  haven't  come  back,  and  they  promised  to  be 
back  at  four  o'clock.  They  have  never  deceived  me  before 
in  their  life.     I  am  satisfied  something  has  happened.'' 

]^ow,  you  see  she  will  start  her  trouble-machine  at  that 
point — and  an  old  trouble-machine  is  like  one  of  those  old 
looms.  Did  you  ever  see  an  old  vi^oman  at  her  loom?  lean 
just  remember  having  seen  an  old  woman  sitting  with  both 
feet  working  the  pedal  and  both  hands  throwingthe  broach, 
or  the  shuttle,  and  the  spool  of  broach  in  her  mouth — hands, 
feet  and  mouth  all  going  just  as  hard  as  she  can  run.  And 
I  have  seen  these  trouble-machines  start  hand,  heart,  soul, 
foot,  spirit,  body,  everything  at  work  together,  conjuring  up 
trouble. 

KNOW    SOMETHING   HAS    HAPPENED. 

And  this  good  wife  thinks,  "  Well,  now,  I  know  something 
has  happened."  The  minute  finger  points  at  fifteen  min- 
utes over  time.  "  I  know  something  has  happened.  And 
the  fact  of  the  business  is,  I  recollect  now,  I  had  a  presenti- 
ment the  other  day  that  that  horse  was  going  to  run  away 
and  kill  every  child  I  had.  The  Lord  knows  I  am  not  fit 
for  a  mother.  I  am  not  worthy  to  have  any  children.  And, 
in  addition  to  that,  I  recollect  now,  the  last  time  I  drove  old 
John  he  took  a  fearful  fright,  and  I  said  right  then  I  never 
would  let  those  children  ride  after  that  horse  again.  The 
Lord  knows  I  am  the  most  careless  creature,  and  I  deserve 
nothing  better  than  that  every  child  I  have  in  the  world 
should  be  dead  on  the  roadside  right  now,  and  I  am  satis- 
fied they  are,  for  a  judgment  on  me." 

Well,  about  this  time  the  old  gentleman  walks  in,  and  he 
sees  the  situation.  "Wife,  what  in  the  world  is  the  matter?" 

"Well,"  she  says,  "I  gave  the  children  permissio«^to  drive 
old  John  off  this  afternoon,  and  they  promised  me  to  be 
back  at  four  o'clock;  and  it's  past  four  o'clock,  and  they 
haven't  come,  though  they  promised  me  they  would  ;  and 
you  know,  husband,  they  never  told  me  a  story  in  their  life." 

"Why,  wife,"  says  the  husband,  "they  tell  them  here  ev- 
ery day." 


464  Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support, 

Anything  to  run  your  trouble  mill ! 

TRYING   TO   SCARE   HIM. 

''Well,"  she  says,  ''I  had  a  presentiment  about  those  chil- 
dren being  killed  by  that  horse." 

''  Why,  wife,  you're  always  having  something.  Hush  ! 
those  children  will  be  here  directly." 

And  directly  she  says  : 

"Yes,  and  I  never  told  you  about  that  horse  getting  so 
frightened  with  me  the  other  day,  and  I  know  those  chil- 
dren are  killed,  and  I  want  you  to  go  right  off  and  bring 
them  back  dead  or  alive,  and  do  it  quick.  I'll  be  crazy  in  a 
minute." 

"Wife,  I  ain't  going  off  to  bother  about  those  children. 
They'll  be  here  directly." 

"Well,"  she  says,  "if  you  don't  go,  I'll  go  myself." 

And  well  he  knows  what  that  means.  And  he  starts  right 
off,  and  about  the  time  he  gets  to  the  front  gate,  here  comes 
old  John  jogging  up  in  his  old  camp-meeting  trot,  you  know, 
and  stops  right  in  front  of  the  gate,  and  the  children  light 
out  with  a  laugh  of  merriment;  mother  looks  on  the  picture, 
and  she  goes  back  in  her  room  and  sits  down  and  buries  her 
face  in  her  hands,  and  she  says,  "What  a  goose  I  have  been." 

that's  just  it. 

And  I  say  so,  too.  That  is  exactly  my  judgment  on  that 
question.  And  of  all  the  geese  the  world  ever  saw,  the 
featherless  goose  is  the  most  ridiculous. 

I  saw  her  at  church  one  day.  She  didn't  seem  to  hear  one 
word  I  said.  She  was  looking  out  the  window,  she  was  look- 
ing out  the  door,  and  as  soon  as  I  pronounced  the  benedic- 
tion she  hurried  to  her  buggy  and  drove  off  at  breakneck 
speed,  and  I  learned  afterwards  that  she  left  a  little  fire  at 
home  in  the  old  fireplace,  and  she  thought  the  house  was 
afire,  and  she  was  looking  out  every  moment  to  see  the 
flames  and  smoke;  and  when  the  service  was  dismissed  she 
hurried  off  home,  expecting  at  every  turn  of  the  wheels  to 
see  the  flames  and  smoke  burst  out;  and  when  she  drove  up 
to  the  house,  unlocked  the  door  and  went  in,  there  was  a  dead 
pile  of  ashes  in  her  fireplace,  and  she  looked  at  it  and  said : 
"  Law,  me,  what  a  goose  I  have  been  !  '^ 


Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support.  465 


Women  are  not  the  only  creatures  in  this  world.  I  am 
sorry  they  do  borrow  trouble.  But  I  am  sorry  to  say  they 
are  not  the  only  ones.   Oh,  me  !  how  we  men  borrow  trouble  ! 

There^s  many  a  man  in  this  house  that  has  rolled  and 
tumbled  in  his  bed  with  a  feverish  brain  all  night  over  some 
problem  that  he  ought  to  have  gone  to  sleep  over  at  nine 
o'clock,  and  woke  up  fresh  the  next  morning,  and  started 
out  to  work  out  his  problem.  Did  you  not  know  that  a  bed 
was  made  to  sleep  in,  and  God  sent  night  in  this  world  so 
we  could  sleep  and  rest  for  the  next  day's  battles  ?  And,  oh, 
how  wickedly  foolish  a  man  is  that  tries  to  work  out  his 
problems  at  night  instead  of  sleeping !  And  he  says,  "Well, 
David  said,  *I  have  been  young,  and  now  am  old,  and  I  have 
never  seen  the  righteous  forsaken  or  his  seed  begging 
bread.'  But  he'll  see  it  this  time.  I  just  tell  you  what, 
starvation  is  right  at  the  door.  I  have  made  buckle  and 
tongue  meet  up  to  this  time,  but  they'll  never  meet  any 
more."     And  there  he  worries ! 

AN   APT    COMPARISON. 

A  good  deal  like  the  old  woman  that  prayed  God  for 
twenty  years  to  give  her  grace  to  die  in  the  poor-house. 
She  had  an  elegant  mansion,  yet  that  was  the  burden  of  her 
prayers  for  twenty  years.  "Good  Lord,  give  me  grace  to 
die  in  the  poor  house,"  and  at  last  she  died  in  an  elegant 
mansion  worth  $30,000.  The  Lord  will  never  let  you  die  in 
a  poor  house  when  3^ou  are  going  to  die  rich.  I  speak  about 
this  that  we  each  may  classify  his  trouble. 

If  a  man  is  young  and  strong  and  vigorous  why  does  he 
need  to  borrow  trouble  about  the  bread  and  meat  question? 
And  this  world  is  a  very  small  question.  As  God  is  my 
judge,  I  was  born  poor  and  raised  poor,  and  I  never  worried 
about  a  meal  in  my  life  up  to  this  hour.  I  never  want  to 
take  any  more  trouble  to  bed  with  me  than  I  can  kick  off  in 
one  lick. 

A   FIENDISH    JOKE. 

The  devil  has  got  a  great  big  joke  on  a  Christian  when  he 
can  keep  him  awake  half  the  night,  and  I  imagine  when  the 
devil  bids  some  Christians  "good-by  "  he  will  turn  around 
and  say:  "  He  has  gone  to  glory,  but  I  had  enough  fun  out 


466  Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support. 

of  him  before  he  left,  and  you  can  take  him  along/'  I  am 
not  going  to  be  joked  that  way.  I  am  not  going  to  be  kick- 
ed around  that  way.  I  have  the  promise  of  God's  word  that 
if  I  trust  in  him  and  do  good  I  shall  dwell  in  the  land  and 
verily  I  shall  be  fed,  and  as  long  as  the  lambs  and  the  or- 
phans are  fed  I  know  God  will  take  care  of  the  man  that 
trusts  him. 

LET   THE   OTHER   FELLOW   WORRY. 

/  And  I  have  often  thought  of  the  sound  philosophy  of  the 
man  I  heard  of  once.  In  an  upper  room  a  man  was  walking 
till  the  clock  struck  twelve,  and  struck  one,  and  struck  two, 
and  the  fellow  down  in  the  room  below  wanted  to  go  to  sleep, 
and  he  could  not  go  to  sleep  for  that  man's  walking.  Final- 
ly he  got  up  and  dressed  himself,  and  went  up-stairs  and 
knocked  at  the  door,  and  when  the  man  opened  the  door  he 
said  :  "  Friend,  what  in  the  world  is  the  matter  with  you  ?  I 
cannot  go  to  sleep  with  you  walking  the  floor."  *'  Why," 
he  answered,"  I  owe  $10,000  and  it  is  due  to-morrow,  and 
I  have  done  my  best  and  cannot  pay  it."  ^'  Do  you  say  you 
have  done  your  best  and  cannot  pay  it?"  ^'Yes."  ^'Why, 
my  friend,  if  you  have,  go  to  bed  and  sleep,  and  let  the  other 
fellow  do  the  walking  to-morrow  night;  he  is  the  fellow 
that  has  got  to  do  the  walking."  Well,  I  will  worry  over 
most  anything  in  day  time,  but  let  the  other  fellow  do  the 
walking  after  nine  o'clock. 

BROTHER   JONES'    TOUGH   TIMES. 

Trouble !  Borrowed  trouble,  home-made  trouble,  and  all 
that  sort  of  thing.  As  I  have  said,  I  have  been  worried.  I 
might  have  been  troubled  a  great  deal,  I  think.  Among  the 
hardest  worked  months  of  my  ministry,  depending  on  God 
and  doing  my  duty,  I  have  seen  my  home  when  the  last  bite 
we  had  in  the  world  was  on  the  table,  and  I  knew  it,  and  I 
told  my  wife  that  evening,  and  went  out  to  cut  stove  wood  to 
get  supper  when  there  was  nota  thing  in  the  pantry ;  and  she 
said,  "  I  tell  you  it  is  all  out."  ''Well,  said  I,  "  I  have  done 
my  best,  and  have  preached  and  worked  and  prayed,  and 
tried  to  do  my  wholeduty,  and  wife, we'll  juststickitoutright 
here.  If  we  starve  to  death  we'll  make  it  out  like  we  died 
of  typhoid  fever."  Well,  sir,  that  night,  before  supper,  there 
was  a  wagon  drove  into  my  yard,  and  when  it  unloaded  its 


Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support.  467 

good  things  into  my  house  I  had   more  to  eat  at  one  time 
than  I  ever  had  before  or  since. 

don't  worry  uselessly. 

No  trouble  about  those  things.  Trust  to  God  and  do  right, 
and  donH  bother  about  anything  you  cannot  help.  In  day- 
time put  in  your  best  licks,  and  at  night  sleep  soundly  like 
you  had  pillowed  your  head  on  the  bosom  of  the  God  that 
made  you. 

Well,  the  reason  I  talk  this  way  is  not  to  tickle  your  hu- 
mor at  all — we  have  got  over  beyond  that  in  this  meeting — 
but  to  show  you  this  much :  you  must  contradistinguish,  you 
must  separate,  you  must  classify. 

JSTow,  that  good  sister  need  not  have  dropped  down  on  her 
knees,  and  asked  the  Lord  to  head  old  John,  and  stop  old 
John.  The  Lord  ain't  going  to  head  old  John,  when  he  ain't 
running  away.  And  you  need  not  ask  the  Lord  to  put  out 
the  fire  in  your  house  when  it  is  not  on  fire.  He  is  too  busy 
to  do  that.  And  you  need  not  ask  the  Lord  to  keep  you  from 
starving,  when  the  Lord  is  in  heaven  and  knows  you  won't 
starve.     Let  us  classify  these  things. 

There  is  but  one  remedy  for  borrowed  trouble;  there  is 
but  one  remedy  for  home-made  trouble;  there  is  but  one 
remedy  for  heart  trouble;  and  that  is  good  old  hard  com- 
mon sense;  bring  it  to  bear  on  these  things,  and  sweep  them 
out  of  your  way,  just  as  you  would  cobwebs. 

REAL   TROUBLES. 

But  let  us  come  to  the  real  troubles — and  these  are  the 
hardest.     They  have  shape  and  form  and  being. 

There  are  real  troubles  in  life  that  touch  us  all  along  the 
line.  There  are  burdens  that  I  cannot  bear,  and  that  you 
cannot  bear.  There  are  burdens  to-day  pressing  upon  mil- 
lions of  hearts  in  this  world — burdens  that  an  angel  would 
shudder  at  if  he  had  to  carry  them  an  hour.  Oh,  how  many 
burdens  press  upon  the  hearts  of  mothers  and  the  hearts  of 
fathers  and  the  hearts  of  children,  and  the  hearts  of  men  all 
over  this  world  ! 

And  I  will  say  another  thing:  There  is  a  point  bd 
yond  which  you  cannot  go  with  your  load.  I  have  said 
it  a  thousand  times,  and  said  it  because  I  felt  it.     I  believe 


468  Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support, 

if  it  was  not  for  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  great  heart  of 
this  world  would  break. 

A  POINTED  ILLUSTRATIONo 

Brethren  !  What  are  my  real  burdens  and  what  are  your 
real  burdens  ? 

There  are  burdens  of  anxiety  that  press  sorely  upon  many 
a  heart. 

My  Brother  Black,  the  pastor  of  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church,  stood  in  St.  John's  this  morning  and  told  us 
how  his  godly  father  in  the  pulpit  stood  with  his  eye  fixed 
on  him  and  preached  earnestly,  and  said,  "Come  to-night^" 
he  was  watching  his  godless  boy,  and  said  "Come to-night." 
The  pressure  upon  his  heart  was  so  great  that  he  trembled  a 
moment,  and  then  fell  prostrate  in  the  pulpit  and  died.  Oh, 
how  that  boy  saw  the  pressure  upon  his  father^s  heart  1  The 
father  carried  it  until  he  threw  it  down  in  death.  And,  thank 
God,  he  never  carried  it  beyond  death. 

I  have  seen  a  great  many  things  in  this  world,  young  as  I 
am. 

VISITING  THE  ASYLUM. 

I  visited  the  Insane  Asylum  of  Georgia  when  I  was  preach- 
ing at  Milledgeville.  I  went  over  and  went  through  the  dif- 
ferent wards  with  the  keeper  of  the  asylum,  and  as  we  walk- 
ed through  I  could  see,  as  I  went  along,  the  distorted,  mad 
woman's  face  of  a  once  pure,  sweet  mother.  I  looked  at 
the  glare  of  her  eye,  I  looked  at  the  hideous  expression  of 
her  face,  and  when  we  passed  by,  the  doctor  said:  "There  is 
the  wife  of  Mr.  So-and-So  ?  There  is  the  mother  of  a  family 
of  children?"  And  I  looked  back  and  mentally  said:  "Moth- 
er !  mother !  what  tore  you  away  from  your  home  ?  Mother, 
what  robbed  you  of  the  care  of  your  children  ?  What  took 
you  from  the  side  of  your  husband?  What  shut  you  up  in 
this  doleful  place?  Mother,  what  did  it?"  And  her  very  face 
spoke  the  answer  back.  "  Trouble  did  this  ;  trouble  did 
this." 

A  suicide's  voice, 

I  go  yonder  to  that  hotel  some  morning,  and  there  is  a 
poor  suicide.  The  pistol  is  lying  at  his  side.  The  derringer 
ball  entered  his  temple.  He  is  there  covered  with  his  own 
blood.     And  as  I  look  at  the  poor  corpse,  baptized  in  its  own 


Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support,  468 

blood,  I  look  down  and  say:  ''Oh,  man,  man,  what  did 
this?"  And  he  speaks  back  in  unmistakable  language: 
*'  Trouble  did  this.    I  got  more  than  I  could  carry." 

Trouble !  This  incident  I  read  some  time  ago  of  a  mother : 
She  was  sitting  in  company  with  a  dozen  other  ladies  in  a 
parlor,  and  the  conversation  turned  on  trouble.  One  related 
hertrouble,  and  another  hers,  another  hers,  until  at  last  every 
one  had  spoken  except  a  pale,  sad-faced  lady,  and  they  turn- 
ed to  her  and  said  :  ''  You  have  not  told  us  your  trouble." 
*'  Oh,"  she  said,  ''  ladies,  I  have  been  listening  to  your  trou- 
bles ;  but  I  have  thought  your  troubles  are  merely  bubbles 
on  life's  current.    They  are 

Like  the  snow-flake  on  the  river, 
A  moment  white,  then  melts  forever. 

SHE    HAD    REAL   TROUBLE. 

"But,  I  have  had  trouble.  I  was  raised  in  affluence 
and  wealth,  and  never  knew  a  want.  My  husband  was  also 
wealthy,  and  we  married  and  united  our  fortunes  and  settled 
on  our  beautiful  plantation  on  the  banks  of  the  Savannah 
River.  We  lived  there  happily  and  peacefully  for  a  number 
of  years,  and  G-od  blessed  us  with  five  sweet  children.  One 
night  I  woke  up.  My  hand  dropped  out  of  the  side  of  the 
bed  and  it  touched  a  current  of  water  in  my  room.  I  wak- 
ened my  husband  up  immediately,  and  the  water  was  eigh- 
teen inches  deep  in  my  room.  He  rushed  for  the  children 
and  saw  they  were  all  safe ;  he  got  myself  and  the  chil- 
dren out  of  the  house  on  to  a  little  knoll  right  by.  "We  stood 
there  only  a  moment,  to  see  the  water  coming  higher  and 
higher — it  was  one  of  those  water-spouts  above  that  caused 
this  unheard  of  rapid  rise  in  the  river — and  husband  stood 
there  a  moment,  and  said  :  'Wife,  I  will  take  you  and  the 
babies  to  the  hillside  there  and  get  you  where  you  will  be 
safe.' 

THE  WIFE  AND  CHILD  SAFE. 

"He  carried  me  and  my  children  to  the  hillside,  and  as  he 
came  back  through  the  valley  between  two  of  those  mounds, 
another  of  those  fearful  spouts  came  sweeping  down  and 
swept  my  husband  out ;  and  I  never  saw  his  face  since. 
But,  that  was  not  trouble.  I  stood  there  under  the  pale 
light  of  the  moon  and  saw  the  turbid  waters  rise  to  my  child 


470  Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support. 

next  to  the  baby,  and  the  troubled  waters  rose  a  moment  and 
swcj.t  him  out  of  sight,  and  I  never  saw  him  since.  I  stood 
thereuntil  the  waters  rose  above  the  head  of  the  next  and  car- 
ried him  out  of  my  sight.  I  stood  there  until  the  waters  stood 
up  to  the  very  neck  and  mouth  of  my  oldest  child.  I  stood 
there  a  moment  and  the  little  child  struggled  and  went  out  of 
sight.  But,  that  was  not  trouble.  I  thought  it  was,  but 
even  that  left  me  with  the  precious  little  babe  in  my  arms — 
all  I  had  left.  And  I  trained  and  nurtured  that  child  until 
he  was  seventeen  years  old,  and  then,  a  pure,  good  boy,  I 
sent  him  off  to  college." 

A   WORD   ON   THIS   MATTER. 

There  is  the  epitome  and  the  doom  of  thousands  of  boys, 
^'I  sent  him  off  to  college." 

Would  anybody  think  from  that  remark,  and  the  repeat- 
ing of  that  remark,  that  I  didnH  believe  in  colleges  and 
education?  No,  sir.  I  believe  in  them  as  much  as  any  man 
in  this  house;  but  I  have  said — and  I  repeat  it — I'd  rather  see 
my  boy  in  heaven  learning  his  A  B  C's  than  to  have  him  sit 
down  in  hell  and  read  Greek  forever.  All  unsanctified 
knowledge  is  degrading!  Just  let  us  take  that  thought.  I 
am  willing  to  be  taken  for  an  ignoramus,  but  I  am  never 
willing  to  be  taken  for  a  rascal.  Do  you  understand  that? 
I  can  afford  to  be  called  a  fool,  but  God  save  me  from  any- 
thing that  will  make  anybody  think  I  am  a  rascal. 

BRO.    JONES'    LEARNING. 

I  was  tickled  with  a  kind,  clever  boy  in  this  city.  He 
was  sitting  down  talking  to  me  kindly,  and  said  he; 

''Mr.  Jones,  how  far  did  you  go  in  your  education?  Did 
you  go  far." 

"Well,  sir,"  I  said,  ''I  got  so  I  could  lay  all  round  Latin 
and  just  handle  Greek  right  along.     Why  ?  " 

"Well,"  he  says,  "most  of  them  are  talking  about  your 
appearing  to  be  very  ignorant  and  don't  know  much,  and 
Fve  been  out  to  meeting  several  times  and  I  think  they're 
mistaken." 

I  say  you  can  afford  to  be  taken  for  a  poor,  ignorant  fel- 
low ',  but  God  keep  me  and  you  from  being  anything  that 
will  put  us  on  the  other  list.  I  reckon  we'll  have  little  else 
to  do  in  heaven  but  learn  forever.     If  I  can  keep  from  sin 


Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support.  471 

down  here,  then  God  will  help  me  in  heaven  to  learn  his 
lessons  there. 

Now  to  go  back  to  my  story : 

'^I  sent  my  boy  off  to  college.  When  he  came  back  home 
he  was  dissipated,  wicked,  unruly,  godless  in  all  his  ways. 
Oh,  how  wicked  he  was.  And  I  did  my  best  and  lavished 
every  kindness  and  all  the  generosity  of  my  wealth  upon 
that  boy;  but  he  went  from  bad  to  worse,  until  at  last,  at 
last,'' she  said,  "I  received  a  newspaper  yesterday  giving 
an  account  of  my  boy's  being  hung  in  a  distant  State;  and 
he  died  a  felon's  death,  on  a  felon's  gallows,  and  has  gone 
to  a  felon's  hell.   And,  oh^  here's  trouble.    Here's  trouble  !" 

Oh  !  how  many  hearts  in  the  house  to-night  carry  weights 
that  an  angel  would  shudder  at  if  he  had  them  to  carry, 

ANOTHER   DOCTOR    CALLED    OUT. 

Brother  Brookes:  I  am  very  sorry  to  be  called  on  to  in- 
terrupt our  brother  again,  but  some  one  at  the  door  wants 
to  see  Dr.  Scott  immediately.  Probably  it  is  a  case  of  sick- 
ness, and  as  such  ought  to  be  attended  to.  I'm  sorry  we 
have  to  make  this  announcement. 

Brother  Jones  :  Do  you  know  the  necessity  for  the  doc- 
tor? Do  you  know  what  makes  it  necessary  for  such  calls 
as  that?  Sometimes  there  are  thousands  of  people  that 
would  unload  every  burden  of  their  souls  and  throw  them 
away  forever.  Do  you  know  what  pain  in  the  soul  is?  Pain 
in  the  soul  is  to  the  soul  just  what  physical  pain  is  to  the 
body.  Do  you  know  what  pain  is  to  the  body  ?  I  wake  up 
this  morning,  and  this  lung!  Oh,  it  pains  me!  What  is 
pain?  It  is  the  voice  of  the  physical  nature  crying  out, 
'^  Send  for  the  doctor!  Something  is  wrong!  Something 
wrong!  Hurry!  JSTo  time  to  lose!  Go  to  the  church  and 
have  the  announcement  made!  When  there  is  something 
wrong  the  pain  speaks  out.  And  every  trouble,  every 
pang,  of  your  soul,  tells  you  ^'something  is  wrong  in  there. 
Send  for  the  Great  Physician."  And  the  Great  Physician 
now  is  near,  the  sympathizing  Jesus.  And  just  what  pain  is 
to  my  body,  just  so  trouble  is  to  my  soul.  ^'  Something 
wrong!  Send  for  the  Great  Physician."  May  be  wrong 
with  the  child  ;  then  tell  him  about  it.  May  be  wrong  with 
the  house !    Tell  your  Great  Physician  about  it.    Oh,  friends- 


472  Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support, 

hear  me  to-night.  This  trouble  !  trouble  !  trouble  !  It  is  the 
warning  voice  of  God  to  my  soul,  telling  us,  '^  Something 
wrong !     Send  for  the  Great  Physician  ! " 

THE    BURDEN    OF    GUILT. 

Trouble.  There  are  the  troubles  and  there  are  the  bur- 
dens of  grief,  the  burdens  of  anxiety,  burdens  of  a  thous- 
and kinds  that  press  upon  us.  The  burden  of  guilt — oh,  how 
it  presses  upon  poor  human  nature.  Here's  a  poor  sinner, 
sick,  laden,  heavy  laden  !  Oh,  look  at  him  as  he  presents 
his  case  before  the  throne,  undone,  wretched,  borne  down 
with  the  pressure  of  guilt  enough  to  crush  a  world,  and  there 
he  is  with  his  burden  of  guilt!  He  comes  to  God  with  it! 
He  comes  to  Christ  with  his  burden,  and  the  great  burden- 
bearer  takes  up  his  burden  and  tells  him  to  go  in  peace. 

Oh,  the  burden  of  guilt!  I  have  felt  it  a  thousand  times. 
I  have  felt  down  in  the  depths  of  my  soul,  I  am  the  most 
guilty  wretch  in  all  the  universe.  I  have  knelt  in  sight  of 
the  cross,  and,  oh,  how  gloriously  and  grandly  Christ  would 
lift  that  burden  from  my  soul ! 

Bunyan  represents  his  pilgrim  as  reaching  the  Wicket  Gate 
and  passing  up  to  the  cross,  and  the  burden  rolled  off  of  him 
and  he  stood  upright  before  God.  Andnomancan  ever  stand 
upright  before  God  until  this  burden  shall  roll  oif  of  him. 

THE    BURDEN    OF    GRIEFo 

Then  there's  the  burden  of  grief.  Every  black  veil  in  this 
congregation  to-night  carries  upon  its  very  texture  a  history. 
Oh,  the  burden  of  bereavements! 

Death  came  to  my  humble  cottage  home  when  I  was  not  a 
Christian.  It  was  the  darkest  hour  in  my  life's  history.  God 
blessed  wife  and  me  with  a  sweet  little  cherub  just  nineteen 
months  old.  She  was  so  playful  and  joyous  and  happy! 
Wife  ran  down  on  a  visit  to  my  sister  in  another  State.  The 
day  she  was  to  come  home  I  had  gone  down  town  and  bought 
some  nice  little  presents  for  that  sweet  child.  I  thought, 
''This  evening  I'll  take  her  in  my  arms,  and  I'll  see  her  eyes 
dance  and  her  little  pink  fingers  catch  at  the  nice  things, 
and  I  shall  see  her  little  heart  made  glad."  Wicked  like  I 
was,  the  highest  aspiration  of  my  heart  was  to  make  my 
child  happy  and  glad.  I  walked  down  town  after  dinner, 
and  here  came  one  of  those  fearful  telegrams: 
Little  Beulah  is  very  ill.     Come  immediately. 


Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support.  .      473 

I  started  with  a  weight  that  almost  crushed  me,  and  on  my 
way  there  I  dozed  off  into  a  disquieted  sleep  two  or  three 
times,  and  each  time  dreamed  that  I  had  that  sweet  little 
playful  thing  in  my  arms  j  and  I  would  wake  up  and  say,  ^'I 
know  she's  better/' 

A    SAD    MEETING. 

I  had  to  go  part  of  the  way  in  a  buggy — the  last  part  of 
the  journey — and  as  I  drove  up  to  the  front  gate  my  wife 
came  to  the  door.  I  shall  never  forget  how  she  looked  !  My 
heart  sunk.  I  went  into  the  room,  the  parlor,  and  there  was 
something  so  unusual  to  be  seen  in  a  parlor.  I  walked  up 
with  my  wife  clinging  to  my  arm,  and  turned  back  the  beauti- 
ful white  cloth,  and  there  was  my  sweet  child  looking  like  a 
little  angel  chiseled  out  of  marble.  I  put  my  hand  on  her 
face,  and  it  was  so  cold  !  I  went  into  the  other  room  and 
just  fell  down  and  cried  like  a  child.  Oh,  how  cheerless  ! 
How  dark !  Oh,  how  these  burdens  press  upon  these  poor 
hearts  of  ours  !     The  burden  of  grief! 

But  I  can  say  this  much  to  you :  God  has  one  of  my  chil- 
dren. I  committed  it  to  him  forever,  and  I  say  this  much: 
My  other  sweet  children  have  a  much  better  father  than  they 
ever  would  have  had  if  they  had  not  a  sweet  little  sister  in 
heaven.  I  am  a  better  father  to  my  children  than  I  ever 
would  have  been  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  precious  one  that 
has  gone,  and  I'm  going  to  try  to  train  my  children  in  the 
path  where  they  may  meet  that  sweet  one  up  yonder. 

THE    BURDEN    OF    ANXIETY. 

And  there  is  the  burden  of  anxiety.  I  have  seen  wives 
that  were  literally  crushed  with  burdens  of  anxiety. 

At  luka.  Miss.,  I  recollect  a  wife  came  to  the  altar,  and 
knelt  down,  and  prayed,  and  prayed,  and  by-and-by,  when 
the  others  had  walked  away,  I  said  to  her: 

'^ISTow,  can't  you  trust  it  all  to  God." 

She  says,  ''  I  tell  you,  Mr.  Jones,  I  have  been  praying  for 
my  husband  for  weeks,  and  months,  and  j^ears,  and  I'm  go- 
ing to  stay  right  here  until  my  husband  gives  his  heart  to 
God." 

Well,  T  had  met  her  husband,  the  coldest-blooded  infidel 
I  ever  looked  in  the  face  in  my  life. 

''Well,"  said  I,  ''sister,  if  I  was  you  I  would  talk  and  pray 
with  my  husband  at  home." 


474      .  Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support. 

^'Ko/'  she  says,  ^^I  have  done  my  best,  and  right  here 
Vm  going  to  stay  on  my  knees  until  my  husband  gives  his 
heart  to  Grod." 

I  walked  back  in  the  congregation,  walked  up  to  that  man 
and  gave  him  my  hand.     Said  I : 

'^  Sir,  no  weapons  were  ever  loaded  and  cocked  in  my  face 
ready  to  fire  at  me,  that  could  keep  me  from  going  to  my 
wife  if  she  had  such  a  burden  on  her  heart  as  your  wife  has. 
Go  up  there  and  kneel  down  and  give  your  heart  to  God." 

"Oh,"  he  said,  ''  Mr.  Jones,  I  am  not  concerned  about  re- 
ligion.    I  tion't  want  to  be  a  hypocrite." 

Said  I:  <'My  friend,  how  can  you  break  your  wife's  heart?" 

THE    RESULT. 

I  went  back  to  her  and  said,  "Your  husband  won't  come." 

"Well,"  she  says,  "  he  has  not  come )  but  I'll  never  get  off 
my  knees  until  my  husband  gives  his  heart  to  God." 

The  first  thing  I  knew  he  was  there,  right  by  her.  And 
when  the  first  prayer  was  over  with,  he  got  up,  and  then 
tried  to  get  her  off  her  knees.  She  looked  at  him,  and  said : 

"Have  you  surrendered  your  heart  to  God,  sir?'' 

"No." 

"Well,  I'll  never  get  off  from  here  until  you  do." 

We  knelt  and  prayed  again,  and  directly  that  husband  got 
up,  and  he  says  : 

"Wife,  get  up  now." 

She  says:  "Have  you  surrendered  to  God,  sir,  and  will 
you  seek  him  until  you  find  him?" 

He  looked  down  at  her,  and  said  : 

"  Yes." 

"Well,"  she  said,  "husband,  you  never  deceived  me  m  my 
life.  You  never  told  me  a  falsehood,  and  I  take  you  at  your 
word,  sir;  and  I  believe  God  Almighty  will  do  now  just 
what  I  have  been  asking  him  to  do." 

And  it  looked  like  that  wife  would  have  died  there  upon 
her  knees.  Oh, the  pressure!  the  pressure  !  I  have  carried 
such  burdens  for  those  I  loved.  Oh,  brother,  to-night  you 
are  burdened  with  these  things  that  press  sorely  upon  you  ! 

WHAT    TO    DO   WITH    OUR    BURDENS. 

Well,  now,  the  great,  question  is  another  matter.  We 
won't  discuss  the  burdens  any  longer. 


Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support,  475 

What  will  we  do  with  them  ? 

It  is  not  wise  to  sit  down  and  count  them  to  see  how  many 
X  have,  or  how  crushing  they  are,  or  to  think  about  other 
people's  burdens.  But  what  will  I  do  with  them  ?  The  an- 
swer comes  thus: 

Cast  thy  burden  upon  the  Lord,  and  he  will  sustain  thee.    He  will  never 
suffer  the  righteous  to  be  moved. 

That  is  why  you  have  your  burdens.  I  wouldn't  refuse 
to  take  one,  but  I'll  use  them  wisely  if  they  come  upon  me. 
Here  you  see  a  Newfoundland  dog  swimming  out  yonder 
in  that  lake  at  will.  His  master  stands  on  the  bank  and  calls 
him,  but  he  won't  come.  He  beckons,  and  the  dog  won't 
come.  He  rebukes,  and  he  won't  come.  And  then  the  mas- 
ter stoops  and  picks  u])  a  little  Stick  and  pitches  it  into  the 
lake  near  the  dog,  and  the  dog  swims  to  it  and  catches  it  in 
his  mouth,  and  swims  to  his  master  and  puts  it  down  at  his 
feet.  That  was  the  only  way  his  master  could  get  him  to  come. 

THE   APPLICATION. 

Many  a  time,  brother^  sister,  we  have  wandered  off  on  the 
sea  of  sin  and  death  away  from  God,  and  he  calls  us  and  we 
won't  come,  and  he  beckons  us  and  we  won't  come;  and  he 
rebukes,  and  we  won't  come.  And  then  God  pitches  a 
crushing  burden  on  our  hearts,  and  with  that  burden  he 
says:  *'N"ow,  bring  it  back  and  lay  it  down  at  my  feet.  I'll 
hear  your  cause  and  heal  all  your  wounds." 

Blessed  be  God  !  Every  burden  of  life  is  to  bring  me 
back  to  God.     It  is  a  message  from  God  to  bring  it  to  him. 

Ob,many  are  the  hearts  in  this  house  that  are  overloaded. 
You  see  that  little  frail  vessel  yonder  as  she  is  pitching  and 
tossing  on  the  rolling  ocean;  she's  overloaded.  Now  and 
again  the  waves  sweep  over  her  bulwarks  and  she  is  about 
to  go  down  under  her  fearful  weight,  and  the  captain  says 
to  the  crew  :  ^'We  must  all  go  down  to  the  bottom." 

And  about  that  time  the  Great  Eastern,  the  grandest  ves- 
sel tiiat  ever  swam  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  comes  plowing  along- 
right  up  beside  the  little  frail  vessel,  and  the  captain  of  the 
Great  Eastern  walks  up  to  the  outer  edge  of  her  bulwark, 
and  looks  down  at  the  little  vessel  and  crew,  and  says: 

"  You're  all  overloaded  !  Cast  your  cargo  upon  me.  I  can 
carry  it  for  you  on  this  grand  old  ship  so  you  can  make  port 
in  safety." 


476  Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support. 

And  the  crew  go  to  work  with  block  and  tackle,  and  they 
lift  out  their  cargo  until  they  have  lightened  their  ship  so  it 
can  go  on  its  way  rejoicing,  and  it  doesn't  sink  the  Great 
Eastern  the  hundreth  part  of  an  inch.  She  scarcely  knows 
that  she  has  taken  on  any  more  burden. 

AND    HERE    WE    ARE ! 

And  here  we  are,  out  on  the  sea  of  sin  and  death,  our  frail 
little  human  vessel  overloaded,  and  we  are  about  to  go  down 
with  everything,  and  right  about  that  time  the  grand  old 
ship  of  Zion  plows  its  way  along  right  up  by  our  side,  and 
its  good  captain  steps  over  to  the  outer  bulwark  and  looks 
down  at  the  frail,  sinking  little  ship,  and  says : 

^'Cast  your  burden  upon  me.  I'll  carry  it  for  you.  It  won't 
sink  me  the  hundredth  part  of  an  inch,  and  in  that  way  you 
can  make  port  in  safety." 

And  we  cast  our  burden  on  him,  and  then  we  go  along  and 
say:  ''Now,  thank  God, 

Not  a  wave  of  trouble  rolls 
Across  my  peaceful  breast. 

I  have  found  my  heavenly  home.     The  burden  has  been 
taken  oif  me." 

And  the  little  boat  strikes  a  bee-line  for  the  shore  of  ever- 
lasting deliverance! 

YOU    CAN    DEPEND    ON    CHRIST. 

Brethren,  I  want  to  say  this:  Whenever  you  get  in 
trouble,  you  can  go  to  Christ.     I  have  found  that  out. 

Blessed  Jesus!  When  his  disciples  were  going  along 
smoothly  sailing  on  the  lake,  he  went  aside  for  prayer,  but 
when  one  of  those  fearful  squalls  came  down  on  that  lake, 
and  pitched  these  disciples  with  their  little  ship  hither  and 
thither,  and  was  about  to  engulf  them,  he  looked  down  on 
that  little  lake,  and  said:  "My  disciples  are  in  danger!" 
And  he  rushed  down  the  mountain  side  and  stood  on  the 
bank  of  the  little  lake,  and  saw  them  as  they  were  pitching 
and  tossing  J  and  he  looked  around  and  there  was  no  boat 
there  for  him  to  ride  out  to  them.  He  looked  again.  He 
said  :  "  My  disciples  are  in  danger  and  trouble,  and  I'm  go- 
ing to  them,  boat  or  no  boat."  Down  he  moved  right  on  to 
the  water  and  ran  out  and  stopped  the  boat,  and  immediate- 
ly it  ran  to  the  shore. 


Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support,     '  477 

I  tell  you,  brother,  you  are  not  far  from  land — whenever 
Christ  gets  on  board — you  are  not  far  from  the  shore  of 
heaven. 

Cast  thy  burden  upon  the  Lord,  and  he  will  sustain  thee.    He  will  never 
suffer  the  righteous  to  be  moved. 

UNLOAD   YOUR   HEARTS. 

Brother!  Young  man!  Father!  Husband!  Hear  me  a 
minute  now.  Let's  you  and  I  help  unload  mother's  heart  to- 
night !  Let's  you  and  I  help  unload  wife's  heart  to-night! 
Let's  you  and  I  help  unload  our  children's  hearts  to-night. 

Oh,  me  !  A  most  touching  incident  in  my  ministry  is  when 
some  little  girl,  twelve  years  old,  comes  up  and  says: 

^'  Mr.  Jones,  please,  sir;  pray  for  papa.  He  is  so  wicked, 
and  he  won't  come  to  church  V 

And  then  directly  here  comes  up  another  little  girl,  and 
says  : 

''Mr.  Jones,  the  Lord  has  blessed  me  3  but  I  am  so  anxious 
about  papa.'' 

Oh,  brother  !  Let's  you  and  I  to-night  unload  wife's  heart ! 
My  wife  carried  me  like  a  million-pound  weight  on  her  heart 
for  months  and  months  and  months.  I  owed  my  wife  a 
debt  I  never  could  pay  until  I  paid  it  at  the  cross;  and  my 
wife  unloaded  this  burden  at  the  cross,  and  since  that  time, 
how  glorious  and  joyous  her  life  has  been  ! 

Brother,  let's  you  and  I  meet  wife  at  the  cross  to-night! 
Let's  you  and  I,  young  man,  meet  precious,  good  mother  at 
the  cross!  Oh,  boys,  look  at  mamma's  gray  hairs!  Look 
at  those  wrinkles  in  mother's  face!  And  say,  boys, did  you 
ever  plow  one  of  those  wrinkles  there  ?  Did  you  ever  cause 
one  of  those  hairs  to  turn  gray? 

A  drummer's  story. 
I  met  on  the  train,  some  time  ago,  a  drummer.  Said  he: 
"Mr.  Jones,  I  was  very  much  touched  the  other  day.  I  got 
a  letter  from  my  mother.  It  was  a  sweet,  good.letter;  but,  it 
wasn't  mother's  words  that  troubled  me  so.  It  was  not  how 
she  wrote.  It  was  not  what  she  said ;  but  it  was  the  tremu- 
lous hand  on  the  paper.  Mother  has  nearly  done  writing  to 
her  boy.  And,  Mr.  Jones,  that  letter  has  touched  me,  and 
before  God,  I  want  to  be  a  joy  to  my  mother  the  balance  of 
her  life." 


478  Ou?-  Burdens  and  Our  Support. 

Boys,  let's  think  about  precious  mother!  Husbands,  let's 
think  about  wife!  Neighbor,  let's  think  about  neighbor! 
Let's  go  to  work  to-night  and  unload  every  burden  that  we 
have  ever  put  upon  anybody's  heart !     Won't  you? 

BEARING  others'  BURDENS. 

I  tell  you  how  I  think  about  it.  If  in  innocence  I  have 
f|3ut  a  care  or  burden  on  anybody's  heart  I  would  walk  till 
daylight  came  and  take  that  burden  off  their  heart.  If  my 
precious  wife  has  a  burden  on  her  heart  to-night  on  my  ac- 
count, or  one  of  my  children,  I  would  walk  till  daylight  and 
lift  with  all  my  power  to  get  that  burden  off.  The  fact  of 
the  business  is,  mother  has  got  as  much  as  she  can  carry 
without  us  troubling  her.  Poor  wife  has  all  she  can  carry 
without  us  putting  on  any  more.  Oh,  brother,  let's  you  and 
I  never  wring  another  tear  from  mother's  eye  or  another 
sigh  from  wife's  lips!  Let's  to-night  be  a  joyous  peace  to 
those  homes  of  ours,  won't  you  ?  I  want  to  make  home  hap- 
py, and  I  reckon  I  had  the  darkest,  most  desolate  one  once 
that  ever  good  wife  lived  in.     Oh,  how  dark!  how  dark! 

DAVID    HAD    BEEN   THERE. 

David  knew  what  he  was  talking  about.     Listen  : 

Give  ear  to  my  pra^'er,  0  God,  and  hide  not  thyself  from  my  supplication. 

Attend  unto  me  and  hear  me;  I  mourn  in  my  complaint  and  make  a 
noise. 

Because  of  the  voice  of  the  enemy,  because  of  the  oppression  of  the 
wicked. 

My  heart  is  sore  pained  within  me,  and  the  terrors  of  death  are  fallen  upon 
me. 

And  I  said:  Oh,  that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove  !  for  then  would  I  fly  away 
and  be  at  rest. 

Lo,  then  would  I  wander  afar  off  and  remain  in  the  wilderness. 

THE    DESIRE    FOR   REST. 

Brother,  I  have  felt  that  way  many  a  time. 
Oh,  that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove. 

I  have  felt,  *' Well,  I  am  just  weighted  down  j  all  the  pres- 
sure of  my  ministry  upon  me  ;  the  care  of  my  family  and  ten 
thousand  burdens  that  mothers  and  wives  have  put  upon 
my  heartj"  and  I  have  almost  literally  stood  in  many  a 
wife's  tracks  with  burdens  on  my  soul  for  this  one  and  for 


Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support  479 

that  one  and  for  the  other  one,  and  I  have  carried  these 
burdens  until  I  have  felt  in  my  heart, 

O,  that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove, 
that  I  might  fly  away  to  some  peaceful  mountain  and  have 
one  week's  rest,  that  I  might  forget  that  I  had  a  wife  or  for- 
get I  had  children,  or  forget  that  I  was  called  to  preach; 
that  I  might  forget  everything  in  the  universe  and  just  have 
one  week's  happy  rest.  I  felt  like  I  could  come  back  to  this 
world  a  new  man  ;  that  I  would  be  new  all  over. 

I  have  carried  burdens;  but,  blessed  be  Grod  !  I  have  learn- 
ed this  blessed  text  now : 

Cast  your  burdens  on  the  Lord,  and  he  will  sustain  you. 

CARRY  YOUR   TROUBLES   TO   JESUS. 

Just  think  about  that!  Is  there  any  trouble  anywhere? 
Then  take  it  all  to  Jesus  in  prayer.  Just  take  your  burdens 
and  lay  them  down  at  his  feet.  That  is  all  we  can  do  with 
them  !  And  I  have  seen  thousands  of  souls  come  up  and 
throw  their  burdens  down  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  and  go 
away  singing: 

Now  not  a  wave  of  trouble  rolls 
Across  my  peaceful  breast. 

Let  us  throw  them  all  down  there,  whether  of  sin  or  guilt, 
or  anxiety  or  grief.  Let  us  cast  them  all  at  his  feet,  and  saj^: 
*' Blessed  Christ!  there  they  are.  I  can  carry  them  no  fui"- 
ther." 

Thank  God  !  It  won't  be  much  longer  till 
The  wicked  cease  from  troubling  and  the  weary  are  at  rest. 

I  have  thought — tired  and  worn  out,  I  have  thought — of 
that  world  of  rest.  I  have  thought  of  that  world  where 
there  is  no  pain  nor  trouble;  where  there  shall  be  no  more 
tears. 

GOD    SHALL   WIPE    AWAY   THEIR   TEARS. 

1  have  thought  of  that  expression  : 
And  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes. 

I  have  thought  in  this  way  : 

I  am  sitting  here  in  the  family  room  with  mother,  and  di- 
rectly here  comes  little  six-year-old  Annie  crying  like  her 
little  heart  would  break,  the  tears  just  raining  from  her  lit- 
tleface.  And  the  mother  says:  ^'What  is  it,  darling?  Don't 
cry."     But  she  says :  ^'JVIarama,  I  can't  help  it."     And  moth- 


480  Our  Burdens  and  Our  Support 

er  reaches  out  her  gentle  hand  and  catches  her  little  girl's 
arm  and  pulls  her  up  against  her  knee,  and  puts  her  gentle, 
motherly  hand  over  this  eye  and  then  over  that  eye,  and  the 
tears  are  gone  and  they  don't  appear  any  more  in  the  child's 
eyes. 

And  then  I  have  thought,  as  we  pass  into  the  gates  of  ever- 
lasting deliverance,  the  blessed  Christ  will  run  his  gentle 
fingers  over  these  eyes  that  have  been  drowned  with  tears  a 
thousand  times,  and  my  tears  will  be  gone  forever.  That's 
God!  No  tears  there!  No  sadness  there!  No  sickness 
there  !     No  pain  there,  forever  ! 

Oh,  brother,  let  us  start  to  that  good  world  to-night. 


^ERJVION  XXVI. 

I^EgT    FOF(    THE    V/e/F^Y. 


Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  givo  you 
rest.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of  nie,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in 
heart,  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls;  for  my  yoke  is  easy  and  my 
burden  is  light.— Matthew  11 ;  28,  29  and  30. 

SOMETHING  TO  BE  GLAD  OF. 

AM  glad  the  first  verse  of  this  text  as  given  is  peculiarly 
the  laDgnage  of  the  New  Testament  Scriptures  to  the 
children  of  men.  In  the  Old  Testament  it  was,  "  Do  this  and 
live,"  ^'  Do  that  and  die."  But  since  the  precious  blood  of 
Christ  was  poured  out,  the  language  has  changed,  and  now 
it  is. 

Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden  and  I  will  give  you 
rest. 

Come  unto  me !  Christ  was  not  only  a  divine  Savior  and  a 
divine  philosopher,  but  he  was  pre-eminently  a  divine  phy- 
sician. 

Oh,  for  a  world  to  listen  to  the  Savior,  to  the  philosopher, 
to  the  physician. 
Come  unto  me. 

Not  "  Gro  to  this  one ;"  not  "  Make  your  appeals  to  angels 
or  to  men  •/*  but  ^'  to  me,"  ''  to  me." 

TRUST   TO    CHRIST. 

No  man  need  fear  to  intrust  himself  in  the  hands  of  Christ, 
because  there  may  be  mistakes  and  difficulties  in  his  case 
that  cannot  be  overcome.  The  great  question  with  physi- 
cians in  this  world  is  understanding  the  disease — "diagnos- 
ing" the  case,  as  they  say.  Any  physician  knows  what  the 
remedy  is  if  ho  just  knows  what  the  trouble  is,  what  the  sick- 
ness is.  An  eminent  physician  told  me  that  the  treatment 
of  children  is  the  most  difficult  treatment  in  their  practice. 
And  I  said,  ''Why  ?  The  system  of  the  child  is  much  more 
481 


482  Best  for  the  Weary, 

sensitive  to  medicine,  to  treatment,  than  that  of  a  grown 
person,  and  why  do  you  have  your  greatest  trouble  in  the 
cases  of  children  V  He  said,  ^'  Because  the  difficulty  with 
children  is  in  the  diagnosis.  They  can't  talk  with  you  and 
tell  you  whore  their  trouble  is,  where  their  pain  is  ;  and  my 
trouble  with  children  has  grown  out  of  the  difficulty  in  the 
diagnosis — finding  out  what  the  trouble  is.  After  that  ques- 
tion is  settled,  I  never  have  so  much  trouble.  Every  physi- 
cian knows  the  remedy  for  certain  diseases,  but  the  deter- 
mining of  the  nature  of  the  disease  is  the  chief  trouble." 

I  have  watched  my  family  physician — noble,  true  man  he 
is  !  I  have  watched  his  face,  the  movement  of  his  hand,  and 
I  have  never  felt  safe  concerning  my  child  until  I  saw  a  look 
of  confidence  on  the  face  of  my  physician,  and  my  questions 
with  him  were  not,  *'Will  my  child  get  well  ?  or  will  it  die?'' 
but,  ^'Doctor,  have  you  the  case  in  hand?  Do  you  know 
what  the  trouble  is  with  the  little  fellow  ?  Doctor,  do  you 
know  what  the  disease  is?"  And  there  is  the  point:  I  know 
the  case  is  hopeful,  and  I  know  that  the  remedies  may  be 
efficacious,  if  the  doctor  has  the  disease  in  hand — if  he  knows 
what  the  trouble  is. 

THE    GREAT   PHYSICIAN. 

Kow,  brethren,  to-night  we'll  hear  the  voice  of  the  Great 
Physician   who  never  mis-diagnosed   a  single  case;  never 
made  a  mistake  in  a  single  case,  but  sudden,  eternal  healing 
always  comes  on  your  putting  yourself  in  his  hands. 
Come  unto  me. 

Oh,  blessed  Christ!  We  have  been  deceived  a  thousand 
times  by  our  enemy.  He  has  persuaded  us  that  ours  was  a 
peculiar  case.  "There  is  nothing  like  mine  in  all  human 
nature;  my  difficulties  are  different  from  other  men;  my 
obstacles  are  diiferent;  really,  mine  is  a  peculiar  case." 
And  the  devil  can  use  no  more  subtle,  no  stronger  argument 
to  a  mortal  man  than  the  fact  that  his  is  a  very  peculiar 
case.  You  should  not  wonder  if  so  and  so  was  treated  and 
healed;  3^ou  should  not  wonder  if  this  one  and  that  one 
should  be  saved  in  this  meeting,  but  '^mine  is  a  very  pecu- 
liar case;  my  temptations  are  peculiar,  and  I  have  such  a 
peculiar  disposition" — and  all  that  sort  of  thing. 

A    COMMON   PECULIARITY. 

Look  here,  brother  I    You  would  be  astonished,  in  the  first 


Best  for  the  Weary »  483 

place,  to  know  how  many  thousand  people  have  broken 
down  right  where  you  have  broken  down  j  you  would  be 
astonished  to  know  how  many  j^eople  are  weak  right  where 
you  are  weak;  you  would  be  astonished  to  know  really 
how  many  people  think  their  case  was  peculiar  when  their 
case  was  only  peculiar  to  the  race.  Oh,  brother,  don't  listen 
to  the  voice  of  the  enemy  that  would  keep  you  from  under 
the  treatment  of  the  G-reat  Physician,  but  rush  to  him  with 
the  consciousness, ''He  understands  me/' 

It  is  very  painful  to  me,  anyway,  to  deal  with  a  person  that 
misunderstands  me.  I  always  could  lean  on  my  father  with 
more  confidence  than  any  human  being  in  the  world,  because  I 
knew  my  father  understood  me.  He  had  studied  my  char- 
acter, he  had  studied  my  characteristics,  and  I  could  al- 
ways put  myself  in  the  hands  of  my  father  with  such  con- 
fidence and  such  trust,  just  because  my  father  understood  me. 
I  knew  he  was  in  sympathy  with  me,  and  I  knew  that  my 
father  knew  all  my  weak  points  and  my  strong  points,  and 
he  understood  his  boy,  and  he  was  the  most  helpful  friend  I 
ever  had,  because  he  understood  me  better  than  anybody, 

A  FRIEND   THAT   UNDERSTANDS    ME. 

Oh,  how  many  people  in  this  world  misunderstand  us  and 
misconstrue  us,  and  misjudge  us  !  Oh,  what  a  blessing  it  is 
to  have  a  friend  that  always  understands  us! 

Now,  with  your  peculiarities,  you  can  go  immediately  to 
Christ,  and  I  tell  you,  before  you  get  there  he  has  already 
diagnosed  your  case,  and  he  has  the  remedy  at  hand  ready 
to  give  you  in  an  instant.  He  knows  which  wheel  is  brok- 
en down,  brother.  He  saw  you  when  you  bioke  down,  and 
he  has  been  watching  you  in  your  despair  for  years.  He 
knows  which  one  of  your  axles  is  broken  down  ;  he  knows 
whether  it  is  the  coupling-tongue  or  the  singletree  broke; 
he  knows  all  about  humanity;  he  knows  where  the  break  is; 
and  I  tell  you  he  always  has  the  means  at  hand  ready  to  sup- 
ply every  broken  bone  in  the  moral  nature  of  man  ;  he  knows 
which  limb  to  apply  the  splints  to;  he  knows  which  part 
needs  the  ointment;  he  knows  all  about  you,  and  he  knows 
just  how  to  treat  you. 

And,  brethren,  when  I  see  my  blessed  Savior  take  charge 
of  the  poor  soul,  I  just  look  in  his  face  and  see  the  expres- 

ol 


484  Rest  for  the  Weary, 

sion  of  confidence,  aDd  T  say:  ^'Well,  thankGod  I  the  physi- 
cian has  him  in  hand  now  and  understands  his  case,  and 
there's  going  to  be  a  healing  now." 

CHRIST    KNOWS. 

Oh,  could  all  the  world  look  to  him  in  confidence  1  That 
is  what  we  mean  by  faith.  Trust  I  That  is  just  exactly 
what  we  mean.  I  put  myself  in  the  hands  of  the  Great 
Physician,  with  the  understanding  that  he  knows  me  better 
than  I  know  myself.  I  think  my  trouble  may  be  one  thing; 
but  he  knows  what  troubles  me,  and  can  put  his  hand  on  the 
diseased  i3art,  and  always  makes  his  treatment  efficient. 
Come  unto  me. 

Now,  if  he  had  sent  me  to  the  priest,  it  might  have  taken 
me  a  lifetime  to  have  made  that  priest  understand  me.  If 
he  had  sent  me  to  my  pastor,  I  am  afraid  my  pastor  has  never 
sufl^ered  in  common  with  me  and  knows  not  exactly  how  to 
treat  me.  There  is  a  preacher  who  never  drank  a  drop  in 
his  life;  he  knows  nothing  of  the  effects  of  liquor;  and 
there  is  a  poor  fellow  absolutely  storm-swept  by  an  appetite 
that  swamped  him.  This  preacher  cannot  put  himself  in 
sympathy  with  this  poor  fellow.  But,  brother,  Jesus  was 
tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are,  without  sin,  and  yet  he 
knows  just  exactly  how  to  sympathize  with  the  drunkard, 
just  as  much  as  any  poor  drunkard  who  had  been  cursed 
with  the  appetite  that  ruined  him. 

FAMILY   INTERFERENCES. 

I  might  go  on  here  to  enumerate  a  hundred  instances 
where  men  could  not  sympathize  with  their  fellow  man.  I 
have  seen  wives  who  could  not  understand  their  husbands — 
and  they  seem  to  misunderstand  their  husbands  in  a  hun- 
dred things.  And,  oh,  what  a  sad  thing  it  is  when  hus- 
band and  wife  misunderstand  each  other.  And  you  just  no- 
tice, when  husband  and  wife  don't  come  to  understand  each 
other  there  is  always  a  ''Mr.  Know-it-all"  and  a  ''Mrs. 
Know-it-all"  that  are  ready  to  step  in  and  fix  the  matter  up 
and  talk  around.  Well,  thank  God,  there  is  no  misunder- 
standing in  my  family;  but  if  there  are  a  thousand  "Mr. 
Know-so-and-so,"  and  "Mrs.  Know-so-and-so"  comes  nos- 
ing around  my  home,  they  will  get  kicked  out.  I  don't 
want  to  have  my  family  matters  interfered  with.     There's  a 


Best  for  the  Weary,  485 

heap  of  that  going  on  in  this  world — a  great  deal  of  it.  It 
is  unfortunate  to  have  family  misunderstandings,  hut  it  is 
criminal  for  you  to  let  anybody  else  come  poking  their  nose 
into  your  home  affairs.  And  I  use  that  expression  because 
it  is  forcible. 


!N"ow,  there  are  five  hundred  persons  here  in  this  house 
who  think,  '^Wonder  why  Jones  runs  off  at  that  tangent  to- 
night?" And  there's  a  whole  lot  more  of  you  that  think, 
''There's  somebody  has  told  him  about  us  now;  I  know 
there's  somebody  told  him  about  our  trouble."  Now,  many 
a  time  you  see  me  run  off  at  a  tangent  that  way,  and  you 
don't  understand  me.  But  there's  a  fellow  here  that  does — 
you  may  put  that  down. 

Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest. 

He  speaks  with  confidence.  He  speaks  with  infinite  confi- 
dence. "Entrust  your  case  into  my  hands.  Let  me  treat 
you.  I  am  not  only  a  philosopher  in  the  sense  that  I  know 
all  truth,  and  know  how  to  believe  all  truth,  but  I  am  also 
the  Physician  of  the  soul  that  knows  all  the  tissues,  liga- 
ments and  fibres  of  the  soul,  and  I  can  detect  any  diseased 
part  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye." 

THE   WAY. 
Come  unto  me. 

*'Come  unto  me  just  because  I  am  the  way." 

The  great  trouble  with  humanity  is,  it  has  wandered  off 
and  is  lost;  and  about  all  humanity  needs  now  is  to  be  put 
in  the  way,  the  high  way,  the  holy  way. 

Brother,  I  don't  blame  you  for  the  condition  you  are  in. 
The  only  question  I  have  to  ask  you  is,  if  you  ever  heard  of 
a  way  out  of  your  troubles,  a  way  out  of  your  difiiculties,  a 
high  way  and  a  holy  way.  If  you  ever  heard  of  a  better  way, 
then  I  blame  you  that  you  have  not  gone  in  that  way.  Hear! 
Christ  said : 
I  am  the  way. 

What  is  the  way?  It  is  a  highway ;  it  is  a  thoroughfare 
to  go  on,  to  walk  on,  to  run  on.  That  is  what  we  mean  by  a 
way.  Our  way  in  this  world  is  frequently  spoken  of  as  a 
pilgrimage — from  this  world  to  a  better.     Brother,  we  are 


486  Rest  for  the  Weary, 

on  our  journey  here;  there  we'll  be  at  our  journey's  end; 
and  Christ  said,  "  Come  to  me,  because  I  am  the  way,  I  am 
the  thoroughfare  to  a  better  world." 

WHAT   THE   WAY   IS   FOR. 

Let  us  see  about  this  way.  I  go  down  here  to  the  Wa- 
bash Railroad.  There  is  a  way.  There  is  a  highway.  I 
never  saw  a  railroad  before  in  my  life.  I  wonder  why  those 
ties  are  laid  along  there  and  those  steel  rails  are  strung  along 
these  ties.  What  are  those  for?  I  never  saw  anything  like 
this ;  I  am  going  to  find  out,  though,  and  I  say  :  "Get  me  a 
wheelbarrow/'  And  I  get  a  wheelbarrow,  and  I  roll  it  ten 
steps  on  that  way,  and  I  say:  "  Well,  this  thing  was  never 
made  for  a  wheelbarrow ;  that  won't  do  for  a  wheelbarrow; 
sure." 

And  I  say:  "Well,  I  will  try  it  till  I  see  what  it  is  for." 
And  I  say :  "  Drive  me  a  wagon  up  on  this  way."  And  I 
drive  that  wagon  ten  steps  upon  that  track,  and  I  say  :  "Take 
it  off ;  this  way  was  never  made  for  a  wagon,  that's  certain. 
This  don't  suit  a  wagon." 

I  go  out  in  the  round-house  searching  for  something  that 
suits  that  way,  and  I  step  down  and  I  see  a  magnificent  Rog- 
ers'engine,  and  I  look  at  that  magnificently  constructed  en- 
gine, and  I  step  down  and  examine  the  engine.  I  measure 
the  bulk  of  the  wheels  and  the  flanges  on  the  wheels  ;  I  ex- 
amine that  engine  through  and  through,  and  I  say,  "  I  believe 
that  is  suited  for  this  way;"  and  I  roll  that  upon  the  steel 
rails,  and  I  put  the  steam  on  until  the  guage  indicates  that 
that  engine  is  carrying  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  steam; 
and  I  see  that  engine  thundering  down  the  road  at  the  rate 
of  sixty  miles  an  hour,  and  I  say,  "  Well,  I  have  found  out 
what  this  way  is  for  now.  This  way  was  built  for  this  en- 
gine, and  that  engine  was  built  for  this  way."  Don't  you 
see? 

OFF    THE   TRACK. 

Hear  me,  brother  !  The  most  helpless  thing  I  ever  saw  in 
my  life,  except  one  thing,  is  an  engine  off  the  track.  Did 
you  ever  see  one  off  the  track  on  a  dirt  road  ?  Why,  she  can't 
pull  herself,  much  less  pull  any  cars.  She  can't  roll  a  wheel. 
She  just  mires  and  sinks  down  in  the  ground.  A  locomo- 
tive engine  on  the  track  is  the  grandest  thing  my  eyes  ever 


Best  for  the   Weary.  487 

looked  at;  and  I  have  sat  upon  an  engine  and  felt  her  wheels 
and  machinery  rolling  under  me,  until  I  was  enthused  from 
head  to  foot.  Oh,  not  only  will  she  run  a  mile  a  minute,  but 
she  will  pull  forty  cars  with  their  freighted  tons.  What  a 
magnificent  thing — how  omnipotent  it  is  on  the  track  !  But 
off  the  track  she  is  as  helpless  as  a  rock.  She  canH  move 
herself. 

Hear  me  !  I  find  a  highway  up  here,  and  a  holy  way,  and 
a  grand  way.  I  say,  "  I  never  saw  this  way  before.  What 
is  it  for  V  And  I  say,  "  I  believe  I  will  try  this  way  ;  I  will 
see  what  it  is  for."  And  I  get  me  an  ox  and  lead  him  up  on 
this  way,  and  I  don't  lead  him  on  ten  steps,  when  I  say, 
^'This  road  was  never  constructed  for  an  ox  ;  he  cannot  walk 
on  this  way."  And  then  I  will  say,  "  Takethis  ox  oif.  Get 
me  ahorse  and  bring  him  up  here  on  this  highway."  I  will 
lead  him  along  a  few  steps  and  I  will  say,  "  This  way  never 
was  made  for  a  horse,  that's  certain.     It  don't  suit  him." 

MADE    FOR    MAN. 

Then!  go  out  and  meet  an  immortal  man,  an  immortal  being, 
and  I  measure  the  distances  and  proportions  of  his  soul,  and  I 
say,  *'  I  believe  I  have  found  the  creature  that  was  made  for 
this  way  and  that  this  way  was  made  for,"  and  I  take  that 
creature  and  put  him  on  the  way;  and  then  I  see  him  mov- 
ing at  the  rate  of  sixty  miles  an  hour  full  tilt  off.  I  say, 
^'My  God,  this  is  the  way  that  suits  him,  and  he  suits  the 
way;"  and  I  see  him  moving  like  an  engine  on  the  highway, 
to  glory  and  to  the  good  world.  But  the  soul  won't  run 
on  any  other  way  but  that.     Did  you  ever  try  that? 

Let  us  try  the  dirt  road  of  profanity  now,  and  just  run 
your  soul  out  on  that  road  for  a  while,  and  it  mires  down  and 
it  is  covered  with  mud  and  filth  from  head  to  foot.  Try  the 
road  of  licentiousness,  and  oh,  how  we  sink  in  shame  before 
God  and  man.  Let  us  try  the  road  of  atheism,  and  I  run  out 
in  a  quagmire,  and  mire  over  my  head,  and  if  I  didn't  move 
out  of  it  it  would  get  ten  feet  above  me.     And  there  you  are. 

ANOTHER    DIRT    ROAD. 

You  get  the  profane,  the  licentious  and  the  Sabbath-break- 
er mired  up  in  sin  and  shame  on  the  dirt  road  to  hell ;  and  you 
get  him  hereon  this  highway  to  glory,  and  you  see  him  mov- 
ing off  to  the  world  of  bliss  with  a  momentum  that  gladdens 


488  Best  for  the  Weary, 

the  heart  of  angels,  and  I  tell  you,  brother,  when  he  blows 
his  whistle  for  the  gates  of  deliverance,  the  angels  will  throw 
the  doors  wide  open,  and  he  will  run  into  glory  and  into 
everlasting  life  ;  and  he  will  say,  *'Sure  enough,  this  road 
leads  from  earth  to  heaven/'  I  tell  you  there  are  a  good 
many  branch  concerns  down  here  in  this  world  that  don't 
go  anywhere.  I  like  a  railway,  a  highway,  that  runs  frona 
earth  to  heaven. 

/  There  is  a  little  branch  road  that  starts  out  to  Desire.  It 
is  a  nice  little  town — a  pleasant  little  place;  but  it  is  at  the 
end  of  that  little  road.  You  can  get  on  at  Desire,  and  it's 
about  an  hour's  run  to  Confirmation  -,  and  you  get  off  there, 
and  you  do  not  go  anywhere  much  ;  and  you  can  walk  back 
next  day,  and  you  have  not  been  very  far  anywhere. 

Or,  there  is  another  little  branch  road.  It  is  a  sort  of  a 
little  short  affair  that  don't  go  far.  You  can  get  on  at  Eeso- 
lution.  That  is  a  right  nice  little  town — a  great  many  live 
there;  and  you  can  get  off  just  this  side  of  Eepentance;  and 
you  have  got  to  walk  across  there  a  piece ;  it  don't  connect 
with  the  main  line.  Brother,  when  I  start  for  glory,  I  want 
to  get  on  Grod  Almighty's  grand  old  trunk  line,  and  check  my 
baggage  through  on  a  limited  ticket,  and  run  clear  through 
to  glory;  and  I'll  entrust  my  soul  to.no  railroad  moral 
scheme  that  don't  take  me  through  to  glory  direct. 

THE    DIVINE    TRUNK    LINE. 

And  I'll  tell  you  where  I  got  on  it.  I  got  on  at  Convic- 
tion. That  is  where  Grod's  road  starts  from;  and  I  tell  you 
that  was  the  awfulest  town  I  ever  stayed  at  all  night  in  my 
life.  I  did  not  sleep  a  wink,  I  could  not  eat  a  bite  or  drink 
a  drop,  but  called  on  God  Almighty  to  bring  relief.  I  ran  on 
a  few  miles  and  got  off  at  Conversion.  Oh,  that  is  a  mag- 
nificent city,  and  I  was  so  glad  to  meet  so  many  of  my  friends 
there.  And  we  rested  there  a  few  days,  and  then  ran  up  to 
Entire  Consecration,  or  Sanctification.  Brother,  that  is  the 
sweetest  town  this  side  of  heaven;  consecrated  to  God,  soul 
and  body,  for  time  and  eternity.  And  when  you  jump  off 
the  train  at  last,  by  the  Lord's  orders,  j^ou  will  find  you  are 
within  an  hour's  ride  of  the  Celestial  City.  God  help  us  to 
get  on  at  the  right  stations,  and  if  we  ever  get  off  at  all,  let 
us  get  off  at  the  right  stations.     God  help  us,  and   save  Uflf 


Best  for  the   Weary.  489 

from  those  little  branch  railway  lines  that  start  mighty  near 
nowhere,  and  I  am  certain  go  nowhere. 

Now,  some  people  will  say:  *'Now,  that  is  a  sharp  rebuke 
he  has  made  at  a  certain  Church."  Now,  I  never  call  any 
names.     Every  fellow  knows  his  number,  though. 

CHRIST   THE   WAY. 

A  Highway  !  Come  unto  me,  for  I  am  the  Way  !  Come 
unto  me,  for  I  am  the  Truth  !  Come  unto  me,  for  I  am  the 
Light !  Come  unto  me,  for  I  am  the  Bread,  and  I  am  the 
Water,  and  I  am  all  that  you  need  for  time  and  eternity. 
On  one  occasion,  when  his  disciples  had  been  without  food 
for  two  days,  and  when  they  said,  "Master,  shall  we  tell  them 
to  go  away  and  provide  food  ?"  Jesus  said,  "They  need  not 
depart.'^  Blessed  be  God.  A  man  need  not  go  away  from 
Christ  for  anything,  but  we  can  get  everything  we  want  for 
time  and  eternity  right  from  Christ. 

CHRIST    UNDERSTANDS   YOU. 

Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor. 
I  not  only  understand  you — I  not  only  understand  your 
desires — but  I  understand  what  you  need  when  you  get  well. 
Oh,  my  brother!  there  is  many  a  man  who  has  recovered 
from  a  spell  of  sickness,  and  been  reduced  to  so  much  pov- 
erty, that  when  he  gets  well  he  hardly  has  any  heart  to  start 
out  to  do  anything.  Jesus  Christ  knows  not  only  what  we 
need  to  cure  us,  but  he  knows  what  we  need  when  cured. 
He  not  only  gives  us  health,  but  he  gives  us  everything  con- 
ducive to  health  afterward;  and  I  can  recommend  him  to 
every  one  with  a  consciousness  that  he  will  understand  us, 
because  he  knows  what  we  need  all  along  the  line. 

Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  are  heavy  laden  and  I  will  give  you  rest. 

TWO    CLASSES    OUT    OF    CHRIST. 

There  are  two  classes  out  of  Christ:  One  class  is  those 
that  are  laboring,  and  the  other  those  that  come  heavy 
laden;  those  that  are  trying  to  get  to  heaven  without  a  Sa- 
vior, and  those  that  are  trying  to  keep  the  commandments 
of  God  and  do  everything  right.  The}'-  are  honest  and  pay 
their  debts,  and  will  do  anything  that  is  right,  and  shun 
wrong,  and  they  are  laboring  so  hard  to  get  to  heaven. 
They  are  laboring  to  keep  the  commandments  of  God.   Oh, 


490  Best  for  the  Weary. 

how  they  strive  to    do    right!     How    they   are    laboring! 
Jesus  looks  at  you  and  he  says  : 

All  ye  that  labor  to  keep  the  commandments  of  God,  come  '^o  me,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest. 

^'Do  not  put  new  wine  into  old  bottles;  if  you  do  they  will 
brealc.  Do  not  put  new  patches  into  old  cloth,  or  they  will 
rend  immediately.'^ 

Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor,  and  I  will  give  you  rest. 

HOW   ABOUT    THE    PAST? 

Brother,  keep  right  the  balance  of  your  days;  but  what 
are  you  going  to  do  about  the  devilment  you  have  already 
done?  Some  follews  say,  "  From  this  time  I  am  going  to 
do  right."  Well,  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  what  you 
have  done?  Here  is  a  fellow  who  has  just  killed  a  man  in 
St.  Louis.  He  walks  up  to  the  Grovernor  and  shakes  hands 
with  him,  and  says :  *'  I  am  sorry  to  have  to  tell  you  that  I 
killed  a  man  in  St.  Louis  just  now,  but,  before  God,  I  am 
never  going  to  kill  another  man.  I  am  done  now.  You 
can  trust  me  for  that.''  But  the  Governor  is  not  satisfied 
with  that.  He  says:  "Here,  you  hold  on.  I  am  going  to 
have  you  hung  for  that  murder.  You  need  not  come  any  of 
that  sort  of  impudence  with  me,  telling  me  that  you  have 
killed  one  man  and  that  you  are  never  goingto  kill  another." 

Now,  brother,  suppose  you  keep  all  the  commandments 
from  this  time  till  you  die,  what  are  you  going  to  do  about 
those  you  have  broken?  Brother,  you  will  find  out  sooner 
or  later.  You  will  find  that  you  cannot  stand  alone  before 
the  judgment  bar  of  God.  You  will  find,  somewhere  be- 
tween this  and  eternity,  that  you  need  help. 

THE  LABORING  ONES. 
Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor. 
The  fellow  laboring  to  keep  the  commandments,  and  who 
keeps  away  from  Christ,  reminds  me  of  a  man  that  is  stand- 
ing beside  the  roadside  and  lets  the  train  pass.  I  say  to 
him,  ''That  train  has  passed.  Which  way  are  you  going?" 
He  says :  "I  am  going  to  New  York."  I  say  :  "  Well,  why 
don't  you  get  on  that  train  ?"  And  he  replies:  ''Well,  I  like 
a  good,  honest  way  of  getting  anywhere.  I  can  walk.  I  did 
not  want  to  crowd  the  train,  for  1  saw  there  were  a  good 
/nany  passengers  on  it.     I  prefer  walking." 


Hest  for  the  Weary. 


491 


^^Have  you  got  money  to  pay  your  way  V     I  ask. 
^'Yes,  I  have  got  money/'  he  says,  '^and  could  have  gone 
on  the  train  if  I  had  wanted,  to.     But  I  prefer  to  walk." 
What  are  you  going  to  do  with  a  dunce  like  that? 

THE    FOOLISH    ONES. 

And  here  is  a  fellow  who  is  trying  to  keep  decent.  He  is 
brushing  his  clothes  so  much  t'hat  he  is  brushing  them  away, 
instead  of  shucking  them  off  and  clothing  himself  in  the  gar- 
ments of  righteousness, 
and  mixing  with  the  heav- 
enly throng.  Let  us  run  to 
Christ  and  give  ourselves 
to  Grod.  It  is  ourselves  and 
not  our  clothes,  that  need 
cleansing. 

A  good  many  people  be- 
lieve that  they  can  devel- 
op into  Christians;  they 
run  upon  the  developing 
process.  They  say:  "lam 
budding  now,  and  by-and- 
by  I  will  blossom.  I  am 
getting  along  fine.  I  have 
quit  cursing."  Yes,  you 
ought  to  have  one  hundred 
Xashes  for  the  cursing  you 
have  already  done.  Another 
says,  '-I   have   quit   drink- 


ing; 


but  how   about  the 


drinking  ne  has  done  in  the 
past.  ]^ow  he  is  going  to 
bud  and  develop  into  a 
Christian,  and  be  religious. 
What  would  you  think  of 
an   old  washerwoman    who 


"jBoss,  I  am  going  to  develop  your 
Clothes.'' 


would  put  a  pile  of  clothing  on  her  head,  and  say,  "Boss,  I 
am  going  to  develop  your  clothes."  You  would  say,  "You 
old  dunce,  I  want  those  clothes  cleaned.  I  do  not  want  any 
developing  about  them.'' 

don't  want  any  developing. 
Sinner,  you  don't  want  any   developing;    you   are  big 


492  Rest  for  the  Weary. 

enough  !  You  want  cleansing.  It  is  like  old  members  of 
the  Church  going  to  the  altar  and  praying  for  more  re- 
ligion, when  they  have  already  got  enough  to  damn  them — 
enough  to  let  them  stay  from'  prayer-meeting,  to  neglect 
family  prayers,  to  go  to  theaters  and  to  play  cards.  Brother, 
do  you  want  any  more  of  that  sort  ?  Lord  !  If  you  get  it 
you  are  gone.  You  are  mighty  near  gone  anyhow.  I'll  tell 
you,  you  do  not  want  more  religion.  You  want  a  pure  re- 
ligion ;  and  whenever  you  get  just  a  little  speck  of  pure 
religion  in  your  soul,  and  you  go  home,  your  husband  or 
your  wife  would  not  know  you.  Give  us,  not  more,  but  a 
pure  and  undefiled  religion.  It  does  not  take  much  of  that 
sort  to  save  a  poor  fellow  like  jou  and  me,  because  there  is 
not  much  of  us  when  you  boil  the  thing  down  right.  How 
easy  it  is  for  a  man  to  be  conceited  when  he  gets  on  avoir- 
dupois scales.  He  looks  at  the  beam  and  sees  that  ho 
weighs  two  hundred  pounds.  God  put  him  on  his  scales, 
and  he  never  shook  them  at  all,  and  he  is  going  to  glory 
with  the  idea  that  he  weighs  two  hundred  pounds! 

GOD    GOES    BY   WEIGHT. 

And  that  is  God's  plan.  He  goes  by  weight.  He  donH 
go  by  measure  over  much.  He  goes  by  weight.  Brethren, 
above  all  things,  let  us  be  weighed  in  righteousness.  Rec- 
ollect, God  can  weigh  cities  and  weigh  towns,  and  weigh 
families  and  weigh  individuals,  and  recollect  the  '^  Mene, 
mene,  tekel.'^  *' You  are  weighed  and  you  are  found  want- 
ing." 

You  that  are  trying  to  be  decent  without  the  Savior,  you 
who  are  trying  to  represent  morality;  let  me  say  to  you 
that,  except  your  righteousness  exceeds  the  righteousness 
of  the  most  moral  man  the  world  ever  saw,  you  cannot  enter 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  "Come  unto  me,  I  know  what  you 
need,  and  I  will  give  you  what  you  need.'' 
Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor. 

That  is  one  clause.  All  that  are  trying  to  be  honest,  de- 
cent, law-abiding  people.  It  is  just  as  much  a  necessity  that 
you  come  as  anybody,  "for  by  the  works  of  the  law  shall  no 
man  be  justified." 

THE    OTHER    SORT. 

Then  the  other  invitation  is  to — 
All  that  are  heavy  laden. 


Best  for  the  Weary,  493 

That  tak^s.  m  f>\[  those  poor  fellows  that  have  tried  to  be 
moral  and  upri/^ht,  and  who  feel,  ''  I  am  guilty  before  God 
and  man.  I  have  broken  the  law  in  a  thousand  places.  I 
hava  sinned  against  Grod  and'  done  wrong  to  God  and  man, 
and  I  am  conscious  of  it."  God  invites  you.  He  calls  "  all 
you  that  are  heavy  laden  with  your  guilt,  who  feel  your 
guilt,  who  recognize  your  guilt,  who  admit  your  guilt,  come 
to  God  ;  all  you  nice  sinners,  you  must  come,  and  all  you 
guilty  sinners,  you  come,  too." 

Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest. 

REST. 

That  is  just  what  this  old  world  wants.  Oh,  how  tired 
humanity  is.  Why,  some  of  your  citizens  are  in  Europe 
now  hunting  r?st.  I  would  not  give  one  night  at  the  cross 
for  all  the  European  trips  ever  taken  from  this  city.  Rest! 
Rest !  I  will  tell  you  something  that  is  just  as  true  as  that  I 
am  standing  in  this  pulpit  to-night.  I  had  been  preaching 
during  the  summer  months  in  Corinth,  Miss.,  to  a  great  mul- 
titude of  people,  four  times  a  day.  I  had  preached  at  6 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  10  o'clock,  3  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, and  7  o'clock  in  the  evening,  right  straight  along. 
Wife  was  there  with  me  a  few  days,  and  one  night  we 
started  to  church;  and  I  told  wife:  ^' I  cannot  stand  and 
preach  to-night;  it  is  too  trying;  I  have  not  strength 
enough  to  stand  up  and  preach,  and  I  am  going  to  ask  the 
people  to  let  me  sit  down  and  talk  to  them." 

I  went  to  the  church,  and  when  I  got  up  and  took  my  text 
and  commenced  preaching,  the  power  of  God  came  on  me, 
and  I  preached  for  more  than  an  hour  as  hard  as  I  could 
talk.  And  I  worked  among  that  great  audience  until  eleven 
o'clock,  and  then  we  started  home;  and  I  said  to  wife:  ''I 
am  the  best  rested  man  you  ever  looked  at  in  your  life.  I 
do  not  feel  like  I  ever  worked  a  lick  in  my  life."  I  went  to 
bed  and  fell  asleep  immediately  my  head  touched  the  pil- 
low, and  I  slept  soundly  all  night,  and  awoke  in  th©  morn- 
ing with  the  breezes  of  salvation  blowing  over  my  soul; 
and,  as  God  is  my  judge,  I  never  felt  the  sensation  of 
tiredness  for  three  months  after  that.  Oh,  if  you  want  a  rest, 
go  the  direct  route  to  that  rest  which  is  the  rest  of  the  soul, 
the  rest  of  the  body,  and  the  rest  of  all  for  time  and  eternity. 


494  Uest  for  the  Weary.       ^ 

THE   DIVINE   DIAGNOSIS. 

Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest. 

Well,  I  really  did  not  know  what  was  wanted.  Of  course,  I 
did  not  know  what  was  the  matter  with  me.  I  could  not  tell, 
as  a  diseased  man,  what  I  would  want  as  a  well  man  ;  but  I 
will  say  this  much,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  spoke  peace 
and  joy  to  my  soul,  and  I  felt  his  arms  around  me,  and  I 
felt  his  love  being  poured  into  my  heart;  and  I  said, 
"Blessed  Master,  if  you  call  this  rest,  this  is  the  very  thing 
I  want.  I  do  not  know  what  it  is,  but  whatever  you  call 
it,  this  is  just  what  I  have  wanted  all  the  time.  Oh,  how 
this  old  tired  nature  has  been  beaten  and  driven  and  tossed 
by  ten  thousand  storms  and  temptations  !  Blessed  Master,  I 
am  so  glad  you  did  to  me  as  you  did  to  the  little  Lake  Gen- 
esareth  when  it  was  lashed  and  tossed  into  fury  by  the 
winds.  When  the  storm  was  most  furious  and  the  disciples 
were  afraid,  they  approi>ched  Jesus,  who  was  sleeping,  and 
waked  him  up,  and  said:  "  Master,  this  little  boat  with  its 
crew  is  about  to  be  engulfed. ^^  And  Jesus  awoke  and  wiped 
the  spray  from  his  forehead  ;  and  walked  up  to  the  prow  of 
the  little  boat  and  pulled  the  little  angry  lake  on  his  knee 
and  hushed  it  to  sleep,  like  a  mother  would  hush  her  infant. 
Then  the  disciples  said  :  "What  manner  of  man  is  this,  that 
the  very  winds  and  waves  obey  him?"  God  brings  the 
tempest-tossed  soul  to  himself,  and  hushes  it  to  sleep  on  his 
loving  knee,  and  protects  it  from  the  storms  of  life.  This  is 
something  about  what  this  rest  in  the  text  means. 

GIVEN   REST   AND   FOUND   REST. 
I  will  give  you  rest. 
That^s  it.     Eest,  Lord.     That  is  what  we  seek,  and  that  is 
what  we  want,  and  just  what  the  Lord  will  give  for  what- 
ever you  offer  him  in  exchange  when  you  give  him  yourself. 
Come  unto  me    *    *    *    and  I  will  give  you  rest. 
Then  he  said  : 

Take  my  yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of  me. 
And  you  shall  find:    (1.)    Given  rest.     (2.)    Found  rest. 
Don't  you  see?     Two  rests. 

I  like  the  found  rest  a  little  better  than  I  do  the  given  rest. 
Let  us  take  the  found  rest.     A  man  sits  down  and  he  says: 


Rest  for  the   Weary,  495 

^Tm  so  tired."  Andlsaj^:  "  What  are  you  doing?"  And 
he  says:  ^'I'm  resting/'  Do  you  notice  that  as  soon  as  he 
gets  rested  he  wants  to  get  up  and  go  on  at  something  else. 
There's  the  difference  between  rest  and  resting.  Did  you 
ever  know  it?  In  the  first  instance,  I  wanted  to  rest.  I 
was  tired  from  head  to  foot.  Now  I  am  rested,  and  now  I 
want  to  find  rest.  I  want  to  walk  out  and  do  something. 
"What's  giving  and  what's  finding?  Come  out  to  the  heart 
of  the  West.  God  sprinkled  gold  on  the  top  of  the  ground, 
and  you  can  go  along  and  pick  it  up.  That  is  given  gold. 
Now,  I  want  some  of  the  found  gold,  and  I  take  my  pick  and 
shovel  and  sink  a  shaft  three  hundred  feet  deep,  and  dig  and 
delve  until  I  strike  the  rich  vein  of  pure  gold  three  hundred 
feet  down  under  the  ground.  That  is  found  gold.  That  on 
the  top  was  given  gold  ;  this  down  under  ground  is  found 
gold. 

And  when  you  come  to  Christ  he  gives  you  enough  to  let 
you  see  it  is  good  and  glorious  ;  and  ^'now,"  he  says,  ^Hake 
the  pick  and  shovel  of  gospel  duty,  and  dig  and  go  down 
until  you  strike  the  richest  vein  of  the  glories  of  God's  in- 
finite goodness  and  love.  Go  down,  and  the  more  you  dig 
and  the  deeper  jovl  get  the  better  the  yield.  And  the  more 
gallons  you  sweat  the  more  ease  to  come.  Don't  you  see? 
Take  my  yoke  upon  you. 

A    GREAT    DIFFERENCE. 

There's  a  heap  of  difference  between  an  ox  yoked  work- 
ing and  a  wild  ox  in  the  wilderness;  a  good  deal  of  differ- 
ence. See  that  old  ox  out  yonder  in  the  forest:  he  just  goes 
where  he  pleases,  and  he  does  as  he  pleases,  just  like  you 
do!  You  don't  work  in  the  vinej-ard  1  You  do  just  as  3-011 
please;  and  that's  the  poorest  business  a  fellow  ever  went 
at — doing  as  he  pleases.  There's  many  a  fellow  in  hell, just 
because  he  did  as  he  pleased — don't  you  see?  ^^  I  ain't  go- 
ing to  let  the  Church  lord  it  over  me.  I'm  going  to  be  a 
free  man."  Yes,  and  your  freedom  has  made  jo\xv  nose  as 
red  as  fire!  That's  freedom,  ain't  it?  That's  fun!  Your 
freedom  is  absolutely  damning  you  !  Your  freedom  is  put- 
ting you  where,  when  decent  people  know  you,  they  won't 
associate  with  you.  That's  an  ideal  freedom,  isn't  it?  Call 
that  freedom  ?     '*0h,  I  go  where  I  please  !" 


496  Best  for  the  Weary, 

See  that  wild  ox,  just  goes  where  he  pleases  I  I  get  him 
down  here  and  get  a  yoke  on  his  neck;  and  now,  whatever 
his  master  says  do,  he  will  do;  his  master  says  ^'Come," 
and  he  comes;  his  master  says  ''Stop,"  and  he  stops;  his 
master  says  ''Eat,"  and  he  eats;  "Drink,"  and  he  drinks; 
"Lie  down,"  and  he  lies  down.  Whatever  the  master  says, 
he  does  it. 

See  that  old  sinner  roaming  yonder:  goes  wherever  he 
pleases;  does  as  he  pleases.  Just  see  him  go  and  put  his 
neck  in  the  yoke  of  the  gospel.  Whatever  the  Master  says 
do,  he  does;  if  the  Master  says  "Come,"  he  comes;  "Stop," 
and  he  stops ;  he  bids  him  "  Do  this,"  and  he  does  it ;  "  Do 
that,"  and  he  does  that;  and  in  all  things  he  does  like  his 
Master  says. 

SOME  REASONABLE  SUPPOSITIONS. 

Now,  brother,  Tm  so  glad  it  is  the  truth  that  "  this  yoke 
is  easy  and  the  burden  light." 

I  reckon,  if  there  was  ever  a  man  that  looked  to  some  peo- 
ple like  he  had  a  hard  time,  away  from  home,  hard  at  work 
all  the  time,  you  see  the  man.  And  I  tell  you  that  the  four- 
teen years  of  work  for  Christ  seems  to  me  at  times  like  four- 
teen months;  and  I  have  had  it  look  like  it  was  just  fourteen 
days.  And,  brother,  those  fourteen  years  have  been  to  me 
fourteen  years  of  rapture  and  joy  and  peace.  And  I  have 
sat  do wn  in  the  glory  of  a  new  peace  an  d  joy  and  wondered 
if  heaven  itself  had  anything  better  than  this. 
My  yoke  is  easy  and  my  burden  light. 

If  you  suffer  with  me,  you  shall  reign  with  me.  Bear  the 
yoke  and  wear  the  crown  I  The  crown  is  going  to  be  given 
in  exchange  for  the  yoke !  Oh,  I  want  my  neck  to  show  in 
heaven  that  I  have  worn  that  yoke  diligently ! 

You  all  try  to  put  a  yoke  on  some  of  your  members; 
you'd  better  have  your  stock  tied  before  you  undertake  it! 
The  policeman  will  have  to  clear  the  streets  of  this  town  if 
you  were  to  yoke  up  part  of  your  stock  and  start  down  the 
street  with  them  !  I  reckon  you  would  cut  a  shine.  The3^'re 
what  you  call  "  unbroke"  fellows  ;  never  yoked  any  before. 

Some  of  these  fathers,  with  grown  children  to-day  :  if  you 
were  to  go  home  and  put  the  yoke  of  family  prayer  on  you, 
I  expect  3^ou  would  run  away  and  tear  the  whole  thing  to 


Best  for  the  Weary.  497 

pieces  before  bed-time.  You  wonH  wear  any  yoke.  Lord, 
have  mercy  upon  us  as  Christian  people,  that  don't  know 
anything  about  the  yoke,  the  emblem  of  our  loyalty,  the  em- 
blem of  our  faithful  service  in  the  cause  of  Christ — the  yoke  ! 
Must  Jesus  bear  the  cross  alone, 

And  all  the  world  go  free? 
No  I  There's  a  cross  for  every  one, 
And  there's  a  cross  for  me. 

BEARING   THE  YOKE. 
Take  my  yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of  me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in 
heart ;  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls. 

Here  comes  the  illustration:  Here's  a  little  stream  run- 
ning along  down  through  the  meadow;  and  it  glides  and 
rolls  and  frolics  along  in  its  course,  and  we  see  it  leaping 
over  this  precipice  and  rolling  down  through  park  and  farm 
yonder  J  and  on  it  rolls,  and  on  it  rolls;  and  by-and-by  the 
little  creek  says,  *' I'm  so  tired  !  I  have  been  rolling  and 
running  and  jumping  ever  since  I  was  born  into  the  world, 
and  I  am  so  tired."  And  all  at  once  a  kind  friend  throws 
a  dam  right  across  its  bosom  and  stops  it  in  its  course,  and 
the  little  creek  piles  its  placid  water  up  against  the  dam — 
the  obstruction  ;  and  there  the  little  creek  piles  up  its  wa- 
ter, so  calm,  so  placid  !  It  is  resting  so  sweetly?  It  stays 
there — resting,  resting,  resting.  But  by-and-by  it  begins  to 
breed  miasma  and  many  other  little  things — mosquitoes  and 
so  forth,  and  its  inactivity  breeds  corruption.  And  then  that 
creek  says:  "I'm  tired  of  resting;  now  turn  me  loose."  And 
the  dam  is  removed,  and  on  it  rolls,  and  down  yonder  it 
turns  the  mill-wheel,  and  over  there  it  turns  a  factory-wheel; 
and  as  it  rolls  along  on  its  verdant  course,  its  waters  clear 
themselves,  the  birds  sip  of  its  tide  and  sing  its  praise,  and 
the  trees  on  its  bank  are  made  glad  and  green.  And  so  in 
industrious  joy,  it  runs  clear  on  to  the  ocean,  and  there  finds 
rest. 

Brother,  the  first  thing  Christ  ever  did  for  the  soul  was 
to  put  his  arms  around  it  and  let  it  feel  the  rest  of  heaven  ; 
and  then  the  soul  in  its  inactivity  said  :  "Master,  turn  me 
loose  now,  and  let  me  go  out  and  bless  the  world  in  a  thou- 
sand ways,  and  find  rest  to  my  soul  as  I  move  among  the 
children  of  men." 

A    GLORIOUS    SERVICE. 
My  yoke  is  easy  and  my  burden  light. 


498  Best  for  the  Weary. 

Blessed  G-od,  the  service  of  Christ  is  a  glorious  service. 
Master,  thou  hast  never  asked  me  to  do  anything  that  did  not 
make  my  wife  think  more  of  me,  and  didn't  make  me  more 
like  thyself  when  I  was  through  with  it.  Blessed  Master,  be- 
cause I  love  and  serve  thee,  my  children  love  and  serve  me. 
Blessed  Christ,  thou  didst  pick  me  up  from  the  lowest  depths, 
and  put  me  wherever  I  am  in  the  strata  of  this  universe  to- 
day. If  I  am  anything  above  a  poor,  wrecked  and  ruined 
Jlife,  I  owe  it  all  to  thee;  and  thou  shalt  have  the  praise  of 
my  lips  and  thepraiseof  my  heart  for  all  time.  And  I  have  felt 
a  thousand  times  like  the  good  old  woman  out  at  the  camp- 
meeting.  She  said:  ^' Good  Lord,  if  you'll  just  save  me  in 
heaven,  you  shall  never  hear  the  last  of  it.  I'll  praise  you 
till  all  eternity  rolls  away/' 

Oh,  religion!  Brother,  if  I  was  a  young  man  I  would 
want  religion.  If  I  was  an  old  man  I'd  want  religion.  If  I 
was  at  home  I'd  want  religion.  If  I  was  abroad  I'd  want  re- 
ligion. If  I  was  rich  I'd  want  religion.  If  I  was  poor  I'd 
want  religion.  If  I  was  living  I'd  want  religion.  Iflwasdy- 
ing  I'd  want  religion.  If  I  was  in  heaven  I'd  want  religion. 
If  I  was  in  hell  I'd  want  religion.  There  is  no  age,  nor  con- 
dition in  life,  in  heaven  or  earth,  or  hell,  where  I  would  not 
crave  this  priceless  blessing  of  peace  and  pardon  through 
Jesus  Christ. 

THE  PRECIOUS  CASKET. 

Will  you  seek  it  to-night?  Will  you  seek  it- to-night ?  Ke- 
ligion  really  is  like  a  beautiful  little  casket  given  to  a  friend, 
richly  inlaid  on  its  surface  with  pearls  and  diamonds.  And 
the  friend  takes  it  because  of  its  beauty  and  its  elegance, 
and  places  it  on  the  centre  table  in  the  parlor.  It  is  the  gift  of 
a  friend,  and  oh,  how  beautiful  it  is,  and  how  it  is  prized  ! 
But  one  day  the  friend  was  looking  at  it,  when  the  owner 
touched  a  secret  spring,  and  the  beautiful  casket  flew  wide 
open,  and  its  richest  treasure  was  found  to  be  within. 

Brother,  religion  is  beautiful,  a  beautiful  gift  from  God, 
that  adorns  the  outward  man  and  makes  the  world  look  on  a 
man  W' ith  love  and  respect,  and  approve  him  for  what  he  is. 
But,  in  death,  the  Christian  touches  a  secret  spring  and  heav- 
en, with  its  beauties  and  glories,  opens  up  to  his  vision  and 
charms  his  life  and  soul  through  all  eternity. 

God  help  us  to  seek  this  peace  that  comes  through  Jesus 


Rest  for  the  Weary.  499 

Christ,  and  whatever  else  we  do  or  don't  do,  God  help  us  to 
put  our  case  into  the  hands  of  faith  to-night,  to-night,  to- 
night. 

I  went  to  two  friends  in  the  congregation  last  night,  and 
said  to  one  of  them  : 

*'  Friend,  are  you  not  interested?  Don't  you  want  to  be  a 
Christian  V 

"Oh,  yes,"  he  said,  "  I  am  interested.  I  want  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian." 

Said  I,  "Take  this  seat  there  and  let  it  be  known  to  the 
world." 

And  he  said,  "  Not  to-night." 

I  went  to  the  other  one,  trembling  over  there,  and  said  I : 

"  Friend,  come  and  yield  to-night." 

"  No,"  he  said,  "  Not  to-night." 

Oh,  friend  !  If  he  is  such  a  Savior  and  such  a  friend,  don't 
stay  away  from  him  another  hour.  Let's  make  friends  with 
him  to-night!  Let's  put  our  case  in  his  hand,  and  then  we 
can  trust  it  there  for  time  and  for  eternity  !  Oh,  will  you  put 
your  cause  in  the  hands  of  Christ?  The  Lord  help  you  to  do 
it  to-night  in  this  calm,  peaceful,  sweet  hour,  in  this  church 
dedicated  to  God  !  God  help  you  to  say  :  "  Whatever  else  I 
do  or  don't  do,  God  helping  me,  my  cause  is  in  the  hands  of 
Christ  from  this  time  on." 

THE  LAST  DAYS  OP  GRACE. 

How  swiftly  these  hours  are  passing  away  !  And  I  am 
looking  in  the  faces  of  men  to-night  who  feel  in  their  hearts, 
"  I  ought  to  give  mj'sclf  to  God,"  whom  I  may  never  meet 
again,  maybe,  until  we  meet  in  another  world.  You  may  not 
be  able  to  leave  your  home  to-morrow  night,  or  you  may  be 
sick.  And  you  may  never  meet  me  again  until  I  see  you  at 
the  judgment  bar  of  God.  I  hope  to  see  you  safe,  because 
this  night  you  put  your  cause  in  the  hands  of  Christ.  Oh, 
how  anxious  I  am  to  see  you  do  this  to-night.  I  have  done 
all  I  can.  •!  have  prayed,  and  wept,  too.  I  have  preached 
and  talked,  although  with  less  effect,  it  seems  to  me,  than  I 
have  ever  talked  anywhere,  but — no  matter  about  that — 
let's  leave  that,  and  let's  you  and  I  put  our  cause  in  the 
hands  of  Christ  to-night!  Will  you  do  it?  Now  we  are  go- 
ing to  stand    and  we  will  pronounce  the  benediction,  and 

32 


500  Best  for  the  Weary, 

then  we  will  sing,  and  if  anybody  has  got  more  important 
business  elsewhere,  or  wants  to  go,  let  him  go.  But  will 
you  stay  to-night;  just  a  few  minutes,  friends?  Grod  help 
you  to  stay  and  give  yourself  to  Christ! 


JSEF^IVION  XXVII. 

yV    J^JhRI^TIAJSI    |.IFE,    the    i)xPOgITOR    OF 


If  any  man  will  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be 
:>f  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself. — John  7;  17. 

'e  will  read  three  of  the  preceding  verses  : 


Now  about  the  midst  of  the  feast  Jesus  went  up  into  the  temple,  and 
taught. 

And  the  Jews  marveled,  saying,  how  knoweth  this  man  letters,  having 
never  learned  ? 

Jesus  answered  them,  and  said :  My  doctrine  is  not  mine  but  his  that  sent 
me. 

If  any  man  will  do  his  will — 

That  is,  if  any  man  will  do  God's  will — 
He  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak 
of  myself. 

ANCIENT   DOUBTERS. 

At  the  time  Jesus  uttered  these  words  he  was  surrounded 
by  the  sharp,  calculating  Sadducees,  and  the  shrewd,  cun- 
ning Pharisees,  and  the  probing,  dissecting  minds  of  the 
lawyersof  his  day.  They  were  doubting  ;  they  were  hating; 
they  were  despising;  they  were  wondering.  It  is  natural 
for  man  to  doubt ;  it  is  very  common  for  man  to  despise; 
and  very  frequently  we  are  made  to  wonder  at  some  things. 
It  is  as  natural  for  a  man  to  doubt  as  it  is  for  him  to  live  a 
sinner,  and  I  suppose  some  of  you  find  that  very  natural. 
A  great  many  think,  ^'Wcll,  I  am  a  sinner  because  I  am  an 
infidel;"  but  you  are  an  infidel  because  you  are  a  sinner. 
You  have  got  the  thing  reversed.  A  man  does  not  sin  be- 
cause ho  doubts,  but  he  doubts  because  he  sins. 

I  believe  the  quickest,  clearest,  grandest  conversion  Christ 
had  under  his  own  immediate  ministry  was  the  case  of  Na- 
thaniel.    When   Nathaniel  came  up   into   the  presence   of 
Christ,  he  dropped  his  finger  on  him  and  said  : 
501 


502  A  Christian  Life^ 

Behold  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  is  no  guile. 
And  the  door  of  Nathaniel's  heart  flew  wide  open,  and  he 
said,  ''Rabbi,  thou  art  the  Son  of  God  3  thou  art  the  King  of 
Israel/'     He  was  without  guile,  and  a  heart  without  guile 
always  opens  itself  when  Christ  is  near. 

DOUBT    THE    CHILD    OF    SIN. 

We  sin,  and  doubt  because  we  sin.  I  said  once  before, 
you  never  had  a  doubt  in  your  life  but  what  if  you  would 
take  hold  of  it  and  pull  it  up  by  the  roots,  you  would  find 
there  was  a  seed  at  the  bottom  of  the  tap  root,  and  the  name 
of  that  seed  is  Sin.  And  if  you  will  quit  sinning  you  will 
quit  doubting,  just  as  naturally  as  possible. 

]^ow,  these  Scribes  and  Pharisees  and  lawyers  stood 
around  Christ,  all  probing,  all  despising,  all  wondering,  and 
all  hypocrites.  The  Bible  has  a  good  deal  to  say  about  hy- 
pocrisy and  about  hypocrites  ;  but  nine-tenths  of  all  the 
hypocrites  I  ever  saw  were  out  of  the  Church.  They  do  not 
belong  to  the  Church  at  all.  When  a  man  out  there  says  he 
is  as  good  as  anybody,  if  he  could  get  anybody  to  believe 
him,  he  would  be  a  first-class  hypocrite;  but  his  unreliabil- 
ity saves  him  from  the  charge  of  hj^pocrisy.  Kobody  be- 
lieves him,  and  therefore  he  passes  for  what  he  is  worth.  If 
that  man  out  there  could  create  the  impression  that  he  had 
done  as  much  good  as  anybody,  he  would  be  a  first-class  hy- 
pocrite. His  failure  to  make  the  impression  saves  him  from 
the  charge  of  being  a  hypocrite. 

DEFINING   HYPOCRISY. 

Do  you  know  what  a  hypocrite  is  ?  A  hypocrite  is  a  man 
that  donH  do  right,  but  wants  to  make  people  believe  he  is 
doing  right.  It  takes  these  elements  to  make  a  hypocrite. 
Now  how  many  hypocrites  do  you  know  in  the  churches  of 
this  town  that  do  not  do  right,  but  want  to  make  people  be- 
lieve they  do  right?  How  many  hypocrites  have  you  in  the 
churches  of  this  town  according  to  that  rule?  And  it  is  not 
so  much  what  you  look  at  as  it  is  what  sort  of  a  fellow  is 
looking  at  you.  There  is  a  great  deal  in  that.  There  stood 
a  dozen  round  there  looking  at  Christ,  and  Christ  dropped 
his  finger  on  them  and  said,  "Whom  say  you — you,  you,  and 
you — that  I  am  V*  And  they  said,  "You  are  an  impostor,  and 
you  are  a  blasphemer,  and  you  are  the  son  of — an  harlot." 


The  Expositor  of  Christian  Doctrine,  503 

And  Jesus  looked  over  to  Peter  who  was  standing  there,  and 
said,  "  Peter  whom  say  ye  that  I  am  ?"  I  wish  I  could  have 
seen  Peter  about  that  time.  Just  lifting  his  face  up  he  said  : 
^'Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  son  of  the  living  Grod/'  Peter 
was  a  man  just  like  the  rest  of  them,  but  Peter  had  got  into 
a  secret  they  did  not  know  much  about. 

We  say  a  man  doubts  only  as  he  sins,  and  that  he  will 
doubt  as  long  as  he  is  a  sinner.  But  if  you  want  to  believe, 
and  believe  with  all  your  heart,  empty  your  heart  of  guile, 
empty  your  heart  of  all  sin,  strip  yourself  of  all  this,  and 
then  you  take  in  G-od  for  all  he  can  do  for  a  soul. 

BIG   SINNER,    BIG   DOUBTER. 

You  have  heard  Christian  people  say,  ''  Oh,  I  have  so  many 
doubts/'  Well,  it  is  no  credit  to  you.  I  will  say  that,  and 
if  I  were  you  I  would  keep  it  to  myself.  You  just  size  your- 
self up  as  a  great  big  sinner,  if  you  have  great  big  doubts. 
One  is  the  result  of  the  other. 

''Thou  art  the  Son  of  God!''  is  the  language  of  the  man 
who  saw  Christ  for  the  first  time;  and  he  took  him  into  his 
soul  the  first  time  he  had  an  opportunity.  There  is  some- 
thing very  practical  on  the  human  side  of  salvation,  what- 
ever you  may  say  about  the  mysteries  on  the  other  side, 
and  I  have  noticed  that  the  practical  discharge  of  the  duties 
God  imposes  on  us  makes  a  great  many  mysteries  very  plain 
to  us.     I  have  found  that  out. 

IS'ow,  I  grant  you  that  in  all  the  ages  of  the  world  the 
great  discoveries  of  this  world  have  met  with  doubts  and 
opposition,  and  frequently  with  doom.  You  may  take  Gali- 
leo, who  asserted  the  discovery  of  Copernicus  that  this 
world  rotated  on  its  axis.  He  was  arraigned,  tried  and  con- 
victed as  the  greatest  heretic  this  world  ever  saw.  And 
they  laughed  his  theory  to  scorn  and  made  him  retract  it; 
and  yet,  when  he  walked  out  from  that  august  body  he 
turned  and  said  :  "  And  yet  the  world  rolls  on."  And  to-day 
any  little  school-boy  in  this  town  will  tell  you  thatthe  world 
rotates  on  its  axis  and  rolls  round  the  sun  in  its  yearly  rev- 
olution. I  believe  everybody  has  accepted  tne  lliccr;'  ^I'^t 
the  world  moves  round  the  sun,  except  Jasper,  the  colorcv* 
preacher,  at  Richmond.  1  heard  the  other  day  he  was  dead. 
I  would  hate  to   have  such   a  case  to  funeralize.     I  would 


504  A  Christian  Life^ 

preach  him  to  heaven,  though,  on  the  ground  of  downright 
ignorance,  for  I  think  there  are  a  good  many  going  there  on 
that  platform.  All  opposition  to  this  grand  discoverer  has 
died  away  long  ago.  The  world  has  accepted  his  theory 
and  praises  its  author  for  it  to-day. 

SOME    OTHER   HERETICS. 

When  Harvey  discovered  that  the  blood  circulated  from 
the  heart  to  the  extremities,  and  back  again  to  the  heart, 
he  was  arraigned  by  the  world.  They  admitted  that  the 
earth  rotated  on  its  axis,  but  they  would  not  admit  that  the 
blood  circulated.  They  thought  Harvey  a  great  heretic. 
Yet  now  we  honor  him  as  one  of  the  earth's  greatest  dis~ 
coverers;  and  to-day,  when  the  physician  walks  into  youi- 
sick  room  and  lays  his  finger  on  your  pulse,  he  determines 
the  nature  of  the  disease  by  the  accelerated  action  of  the 
pulse,  which  is  the  indicator  of  the  arterial  circulation.  No 
one  doubts  now  that  the  blood  circulates. 

When  Watts  discovered  that  steam — a  bland  vapor — had  a 
power  almost  omnipotent,  the  world  laughed  him  to  scorn, 
and  considered  him  a  great  heretic.  And  when  Stephenson 
constructed  his  engine,  that  infidel  world  stood  and  looked 
on,  ready  to  laugh  him  to  scorn  ;  but  when  he  pulled  back 
the  throttle  and  the  engine  moved  off  before  the  gaze  of  an 
infidel  world  with  an  astonishing  power  and  velocity,  the 
world  hung  its  head.  ^'We  give  it  up.''  Can  anybody  doubt 
the  power  of  steam  who  sees  these  iron  horses  moving  over 
this  country  a  mile  a  minute,  pulling  their  freighted  tons 
along  ?  All  opposition  to  this  grand  discoverer  has  died  out 
with  the  past. 

When  Morse  discovered  that  a  man  might  chain  electricity 
to  a  wire,  and  that  one  man  might  sit  in  one  city  and  talk  to 
a  person  in  another  city,  the  world  pricked  its  ears  up  and 
said,  ^'We  have  a  sure-enough  humbug  now,  and  we  will 
condemn  him  without  trial.  It  is  the  most  astounding  hum- 
bug the  world  ever  saw;  there  is  no  truth  in  it."  Who 
doubts  now  that  I  can  go  into  a  telegraph  office  in  this  town 
and  talk  for  an  hour  to  a  friend  in  Liverpool,  England? 
And  I  sa}^,  to-night,  of  these  grand  discoverers  who  have 
proclaimed  these  discoveries  to  the  world,  that  in  this  da}" 
thfl  TJ^orld  builds  monuciQ^V  tp  them  and  honors  them? 


The  Expositor  of  Christian  Doctrine,  505 

THE    GRANDEST   DISCOVERY   OF    ALL. 

But  the  grandest  discoverer  in  this  world's  history  was  he 
who  eighteen  hundred  j^ears  ago  discovered  the  balm  of  G-i- 
lead  and  poured  his  own  j^recious  blood  out  to  redeem  this 
world;  and  that  precious  blood  has  been  washing  its  millions 
for  eighteen  hundred  years  ;  and  yet,  to-day,  after  all  the  tri- 
umphs of  the  cross  and  the  cleansing  power  of  the  blood, 
there  is  as  much  opposition  from  science  to-day  to  the  Christ 
crucified  as  there  ever  was  in  any  age  of  the  world.  I  reck- 
on we  would  have  been  fighting  Galileo  to-day  if  he  had 
abused  dram-drinking,  cursing  and  making  money.  I  ex- 
pect we  would  have  been  fighting  Harvey  on  the  same  line.  I 
expect  we  will  fight  anything  that  proposes  to  abridge  our 
privileges  to  go  to  hell.  Oh,  why  is  it  that  we  accept  every- 
thing from  everybody  that  is  proven  true,  and  yet  when  the 
blood-washed  throng  in  heaven,  and  the  best  of  earth,  stand 
up  and  testify  of  Jesus'  power  to  save,  there  are  those  who 
have  doubts  and  misgivings  about  his  power  to  save  a  soul 
to  God. 

THE    TEST    OP    CHRISTIANITY. 

Thank  God !  Eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  before  I  ever  saw 
the  light  of  this  world,  that  precious  blood  was  shed  tore- 
deem  me;  and  thank  God  !  eighteen  hundred  years  after  it 
was  poured  out,  my  poor  heart  was  washed  in  the  blood  Jesus 
Christ  shed  to  save  sinners.  Now,  brother,  I  say  this,  and  I 
talk  with  the  Bible  open  before  me,  and  with  intelligent  men 
and  women  before  me.  Listen.  The  science  of  Christ  cru- 
cified, the  religion  of  Christianity,  may  be  tested  just  like 
anything  else.  A  great  many  say  it  is  a  sentiment  for  old 
women  and  children.  I  recollect  that  in  the  town  where  I 
lived  there  was  a  poor  fellow  whom  they  called  half-witted. 
All  the  sense  he  had  in  the  world  was  religious  sense — all 
the  sense  he  had  was  good  sense — pious  sense.  And  they 
used  to  dub  him  a  crank,  and  say  he  was  crazy.  They  said 
he  was  crazy  on  the  subject  of  religion.  Well,  I  told  those 
people  they  would  all  feel  like  there  had  been  an  eternal 
practical  joke  played  upon  them,  when  they  walked  up  to 
the  bar  of  God  for  judgment  and  found  that  poor  Gus,  whom 
they  had  called  crazy,  was  the  only  sensible  man  in  the 
town.  Let  me  say  to  those  who  speak  of  the  religion  of  Je- 
sus Christ  as  the  plaything  of  an  idiot,  or  as  a  sentiment  for 


506  A  Christian  LifCj 

a  poor  old  woman  in  her  dotage  to  hug  to  her  heart,  that 
there  is  in  it  something  to  engage  the  grandest  minds  and 
to  keep  busy  the  biggest  hearts  this  worl'd  ever  saw.  Let  us 
stop  to  think  before  we  deride  the  science  that  has  blood- 
washed  the  world  alread}^,  and  that  proposes  to  save  me  and 
my  child  from  the  sins  that  beset  us,  and  make  us  meet  and 
fit  for  the  Master's  house  in  heaven. 

A  PHYSICAL  DEMONSTRATION. 

'  Now  we  stop  for  a  moment.  The  science  of  mathematics, 
for  instance,  is  a  science  that  has  been  demonstrated  to  be 
true.  A  man  tells  a  class:  ''  True  it  is  that  the  science  is 
true.''  I  will  say :  ^'  Demonstrate  it  to  me.''  He  says : 
''  Twice  two  are  four." 

I  say,  "Hush,  that  is  child's  talk.  Now  demonstrate  to 
me  that  mathematics  is  a  true  science." 

And  he  says,  "  Six  times  six  are  thirty-six." 

I  say,  ''I  do  not  want  any  foolishness.  I  want  a  grand 
demonstration  that  the  science  of  mathematics  is  a  true 
science." 

He  says:  ''You  are  a  sensible  man,  and  I  will  take  you 
over  here  to  these  Alps" — those  grand  mountains  piled  up 
there  between  France  and  Switzerland.  Those  two  Govern- 
ments want  to  tunnel  that  mountain,  and  they  want  to  begin 
on  opposite  sides  of  the  mountain  and  meet  each  other  in 
the  middle  of  the  mountain.  Millions  are  involved  in  the 
undertaking,  and  the  science  of  mathematics  starts  up  and 
says,  "  I  will  guide  you  through  that  old  dark  mountain  and 
bring  you  together  in  the  heart  of  it."  "But,"  say  these  gov- 
ernments, "  If  you  fail  to  do  it  we  have  lost  millions."  The 
engineers  say  they  will  not  fail,  and  they  bring  their  instru- 
ments to  bear  on  that  old  mountain  and  mark  out  the  lines. 

THE   RESULT. 

They  work  there  for  weeks  and  months  and  years,  and 
'thousands  are  spent,  and  people  wonder  how  this  is  going  to 
come  out.  Oneday  the  workmen  on  France's  side  sat  down  to 
dinner.  The  workmen  on  Switzerland's  side  rose  from  their 
mid-day  meal  and  commenced  work  first.  The  French  work- 
men suddenly  hear  the  rumblings  of  the  picks  on  the  other 
side,  and  they  jump  up  and  take  up  their  tools,  and  com- 
mence work  again  on  the  partition  of  earth  ;    and  in  fifteen 


The  Expositor  of  Christian  Doctrine,  507 

minutes  the  middle  wall  fell  out,  and  they  had  struck  one 
another  to  the  one-thousandth  part  of  an  inch.  And  there  is 
one  everlasting  demonstration  of  the  truth  of  the  science  of 
mathematics. 

Well,  we  say  that  Christianity  may  be  tested  just  precise- 
ly like  the  science  of  mathematics  may  be  tested.  It  is  a  true 
science,  and  you  can  subject  it  to  the  most  severe  test,  and 
demonstrate  it  for  yourself.  That  is  it.  Well,  here  is  a  man 
who  declares  it  to  be  a  true  science,  and  says :  "  I  believe  in 
Jesus  Christ.^' 

*'  Well,  what  makes  you  believe  in  Jesus  Christ." 

"  Because  he  pardoned  all  my  sins.'' 

"  Oh,  well,  there  may  be  a  sentiment  about  that.  I  do  not 
know  about  that.  None  of  your  foolishness,  now.  I  want  to 
know  whether  he  is  divine.  I  want  to  know  whether  he  is 
Grod  or  not.'' 

A  DIVINITY  PROVED. 

''  I  will  tell  you  what  I  will  do.  Hunt  me  up  a  man  born 
blind.  One  that  never  saw  the  light  of  this  world;  one  whose 
eyes  the  doctors  have  failed  to  open.  Get  me  a  man  born  stone 
blind  that  never  saw  the  light  of  day,  and  let  me  see  him. 
Bring  him  out  here.  Let  us  give  the  world  a  demonstration 
that  thou  art  God."  Jesus  calls  the  blind  man  up  to  him, 
and  he  stoops  down  and  spits  on  the  ground,  and  makes  clay 
with  the  spittle.  And  then  he  takes  the  clay  and  rubs  it  on 
the  blind  man's  eyes,  and  he  says,  ^'Now,  go  and  wash  in 
yonder  pool." 

VERY   LIKELY. 

I  expect  if  some  of  the  scientific  of  our  congregations  had 
been  there  that  day  they  would  have  said,  ''Look  at  that 
now,  will  you?  He  is  making  a  fool  of  that  poor  fellow. 
Science  demonstrates  that  there  are  oiirative  properties  in  dry 
earth,  but  wet  it,  and  the  curative  power  is  destroyed.  To 
rub  inert  wet  dirt  on  a  man's  eyes  and  then  tell  him  to  go 
and  wash  his  eyes  in  that  pool — why,  he  has  washed  all  ov- 
er in  that  pool  many  a  time — there  is  nothing  in  it." 
''Well,"  the  poor  blind  fellow  says,  ''  don't  you  go  on  spec- 
ulating. You  can  afford  to  speculate  on  this  question,  but  it 
is  a  question  of  eyesight  with  me,  and  I  am  going  to  try  this 
thing.  I  heard  what  he  said."  And  the  blind  man  groped  off 


508  A  Christian  Life, 

in  the  darkness  until  he  struck  the  edge  of  the  pool;  then  he 
stooped  down  and  pulled  the  water  up  and  washed  the  clay 
from  his  eyes,  and  wiped  the  water  out  of  his  eyes;  and  when 
he  looked  up  he  saw  rocks  and  rivers  and  mountains  that 
his  eyes  never  looked  on  before.  The  scientific  gentlemen 
pressed  around  him,  and  said,  ''  Look  here,  old  fellow,  we 
want  to  make  something  out  of  this  case.  We  admit  that  he 
has  healed  your  eyes.  We  admit  all  that,  but  we  want  you 
to  say  he  has  got  a  devil,  can't  you?" 

The  poor  fellow  looked  up,  with  his  eyes  dancing  in  his 
head,  and  said,  ''  I  don't  know  whether  he  has  a  devil  or  not. 
I  cannot  tell  you  anything  about  that,  but  I  know,  '■  Where- 
as, I  was  blind,  I  now  see/  "  And,  brothers,  there  is  demon- 
stration for  you. 

ANOTHER   DEMONSTRATION. 

'' I  like  that.  But  can't  you  demonstrate  it  some  other 
way  V 

''Bring  me  up  ten  lepers  this  way" — and  this  old  world  has 
done  its  best  on  lepers  in  all  of  its  ages,  and  admitted  hav- 
ing done  nothing. 

They  bring  those  ten  lepers  up  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  they  say  :  ^'Master,  that  we  may  be  made  whole.'^  Jesus 
looked  atthe  poor  lepers,  and  said:  "Go  and  show  yourselves 
to  the  priest."  The  poor  skeptics  yonder  say,  ^'Master,  the 
priests  won't  let  these  lepers  come  around;  they  will  hold 
up  their  hands,  and  tell  them  to  keep  off  before  anybody 
gets  to  them." 

Oh,  how  ridiculous  they  make  the  poor  lepers !  Well,  the 
lepers  said  :  '■'■  You  can  argue  with  the  Savior,  but  we're  go- 
ing to  try  this  thing;  we're  going  to  the  priest."  Off  they 
start.  And  before  they  got  one  hundred  j^ards  from  the  Son 
of  G-od,  one  said:  "The  scales  are  falling  from  my  body:" 
and  another  said :  *'  Such  is  the  case  with  me  :"  and  one  said : 
''I  am  sound  from  head  to  foot:"  and  another  said,  "I  am  :" 
and  one  ran  back  to  praise  God  for  the  healing  of  the 
whole. 

WHAT    THE    TROUBLE    IS. 

Do  you  want  a  better  demonstration  of  the  fact  that  God 
Almighty  has  power  and  strength  to  heal  a  man  than  when 
he  does  such  things  as  these  ?  Put  it  to  the  test — that's  the 
question. 


The  Expositor  of  Christian  Doctrine,  509 

I'll  tell  you  what's  the  matter  with  this  old  world.  They 
don't  want  to  test  anything. 

In  this  connection,  this  old  world  reminds  me  of  a  man 
standing  down  on  the  far  side  of  the  hill;  and  I  say: 
"  Friend,  there  is  a  bright  light  on  the  other  side  of  the  hill." 

He  says,  '^No,  there  ain't." 

I  say,  ''Well,  come;  I'll  show  you." 

''  I  ain't  going." 

I  catch  him  by  the  hand  and  I  pull  him  along  until  I  get 
to  the  top  of  the  hill,  where  he  can  see  the  light,  and  as 
soon  as  he  gets  to  where  he  can  see  the  light  he  turns  his 
head  over  so  he  can't  see;  and  I  turn  his  head  back  so  he 
can  see  the  light,  and  he  shuts  his  eyes  so  he  can't  see;  and 
I  prize  his  eyes  open,  and  he  says,  '' I  don't  want  to  see. 
It'll  cost  me  something  to  see  that  light." 

I  say  to  a  friend  here  in  this  town — he  don't  believe  in 
railroads,  he  don't  believe  a  locomotive  can  run  a  lick,  he 
has  looked  at  them,  he  has  examined  them;  they  weigh 
about  forty  tons,  and  he  doesn't  see  how  they  can  run — I 
say  to  him : 

"  Well,  friend,  I  have  ridden  on  that  train.  It  can  run  forty 
miles  an  hour.  It  can  run  from  here  to  Nashville  in  eleven 
hours — three  hundred  and  forty  miles." 

''Oh,  well,"  he  says,  "you  can't  fool  me." 

"Well,"  I  say,  "friend,  there  is  something  important  in 
this  move.  I  want  to  get  you  on  my  side,  and  now  come  down 
with  me  and  I  will  show  you." 

"  Well,"  he  says,  "  I  ain't  got  the  money  to  spare." 

"  Well,  I  will  pay  your  way.     What  do  you  say." 

"Well,  I  ain't  going  to.  I  don't  believe  it.  The  train 
don't  move  at  all." 

ISTow,  you  ain't  got  time  to  fool  away  with  that  fellow  at 
all — have  j^ou? 

WILLFUL   INCREDULITY. 

And  here  is  a  grand  science  proposing  to  make  the  best 
for  the  universe;  and  we  stand  up  prepared  to  prove  what 
it  has  done;  and  that  man  stands  up  there  and  says,  prac- 
tically on  his  lips,  "I  don't  believe  a  word  of  it." 

Now,  brother,  you  may  test  this  thing.  And  when  an  in- 
fidel sits  down  and  proposes  to  argue  with  me,  I  don't 
argue  with  him.     I  just  ask  him  three  questions,  and  when 


510  A  Christian  Life. 

lie  gets  through  answering  them  the  argument  is  closed,  so 
far  as  I  am  concerned. 

He  says  :  ^'  I  don't  believe  Jesus  Christ  has  power  on  earth 
to  forgive  sins." 

I  say  :  "  Have  you  ever  tried  him  ?  Have  you  ever  tried 
him?'' 

"No." 

"Well,  will  you  try  him?" 

"No." 

"  Well,  will  you  acknowledge  you  are  a  fool?" 

"No." 

Now,  you  .see,  we  can't  argue  this  thing  any  further. 
That  just  settles  the  matter  right  there. 

"  I  have  never  tried  him,  I  am  never  going  to  try  him,  and 
I  ain't  a  fool." 

Now,  when  a  man  denies  everything  that  you  want  to  as- 
sert, then  there  is  no  ground  there  for  an  argument  at  all, 
and  I  just  bid  him  good-by,  and  we  go  off,  and  I  feel  like  I 
have  done  right,  in  that  I  have  not  wasted  my  time  on  a  case 
like  that. 

A    BOLD    CHALLENGE. 
If  any  man  will  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine. 

And  when  those  Scribes  and  Pharisees  and  hypocrites 
stood  around  Christ  and  were  j^robing  and  dissecting  and 
analyzing  every  word  he  said,  Jesus  turned  around  and 
threw  the  gauntlet  down  right  at  their  feet,  and  he  says,  to 
put  the  thing  to  the  test,  "And  if  you  don't  find  it  true,  I 
will  acknowledge  myself  an  impostor  and  blasphemer  in  the 
sight  of  Grod  and  angels.  What  more  do  you  want  than 
that?"  And  I — if  you  will  pardon  the  expression — I  dare 
any  man  this  night  who  doubts — I  dare  you  to  give  up  your 
sins  and  take  him  who  is  a  Savior  from  sin  as  your  portion. 
If  any  man  will  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine. 

Now,  it  is  important  we  stop  right  at  this  point,  and  find 
out  what  is  the  will  of  God  concerning  a  sinner. 

Now,  what  is  it?  Peter  was  versed,  and  learned  at  the 
feet  of  Jesus  himself,  what  the  duty  of  a  sinner  was.  What 
did  Peter  say  to  him  that  day  he  had  three  thousand  con- 
verts under  one  sermon  ?  He  said  :  "  Eepent  ye,  therefore, 
and  be  converted,  that  your  sins  may  be  blotted  out.  Ee- 
pent! repent!  repent!" 


The  Expositor  of  Christian  Doctrine,  511 

HARDSHELL   VS.    ARMENIAN. 

Kow,  brother,  repentance  is  your  part  j  salvation  from  sin 
is  God's  part  with  the  world  j  and  you  need  never  expect 
God  to  do  his  part  until  you  have  done  your  part. 

I  heard  of  an  old  Hardshell  once — he  was  not  a  converted 
Hardshell;  he  was  an  unconverted  Hardshell — and  that's  the 
worst  shape  I  have  found  the  devil  in  yet.  He  was  an  un- 
converted Hardshell,  and  he  would  say,  "What  is  to  be  is  to 
be,  you  know ;"  and,  "If  you  seek  religion  you  canH  find  it, 
and  if  you  find  it  you  ain't  got  it,  and  if  you've  got  it  you 
can't  lose  it,  and  if  you  lose  it  you  don't  have  it."  And  this 
is  the  way  the  world  goes  with  him.  But  when  you  strike 
an  Armenian  sinner,  a  sinner  who  says,  "  I  must  do  some- 
thing; I  must  seek  if  I  would  find  ;  I  must  knock  if  I  would 
have  the  door  opened  ;  I  must  ask  if  I  would  receive ;"  and 
when  you  find  that  sort  of  a  sinner,  he  says  :  "  Well,  thank 
God,  if  I  seek  religion,  I'll  find  it,  and  if  I  find  it,  I've  got 
it,  and  if  I've  got  it  I  can  lose  it,  and  if  I  lose  it,  I've  had 
it."  And  he  works  along  on  that  plan.  And,  after  all, 
brethren,  I  want  to  be  the  Armenian  before  I  get  religion, 
and  a  good  Hardshell  after  I  get  it.  Now,  that  is  how  I  fix 
the  thing.  But,  God  Almighty,  deliver  me  from  Hardshell- 
ism  before  I  get  it.  If  I  get  to  be  a  Hardshell  before  I  get 
to  be  a  Christian,  I  am  gone  sure. 

BRINGINGr   THE    HARDSHELL   TO  TERMS. 

ISTow,  this  old  Hardshell  was  about  sixty  years  old.  The 
preacher  said:  "We've  got  a  good  meeting;  I  wish  you 
would  come  down  to  the  meeting  and  give  your  heart  to 
God."  "Oh,"  said  the  Hardshell,  "I  have  been  listening  for 
that  still  small  voice  for  sixty  years."  "Have  you  heard 
it?"  "No."  "Well,  you're  getting  pretty  deaf,  and  if  you 
couldn't  hear  it  when  your  e.ais  were  good,  how  do  you  ex- 
pect to  hear  it  now?"  He  told  the  old  Hardshell:  "You 
come  down  to  the  meeting,  and  seek  God,  and  you  will  find 
him;"  and  to  his  astonishment  the  old  Hardshell  was  down 
at  the  altar,  and  on  his  knees,  tind  praying  that  night.  And 
next  morning,  at  the  service,  before  the  service  was  con- 
cluded, the  Hardshell  was  converted  to  God,  and  he  stood 
up  and  slapped  his  hands  together,  a^id  he  said  :  "Brethren, 
I  tell  you  that  Methodism  has  done  m^^re  for  me  in  twelve 


512  A  Christian  Life, 

hours  than  Hardshellism  did  for  me  in  sixty  years."  He 
did,  sure.  And,  now,  we  tell  him,  *'If  Methodism  did  that 
for  you, you  stay  in  it,  and  don't  let  the  devil  break  in  on 
you."  That's  my  doctrine.  But  don't  you  try  that  thing  on 
you  until  you  get  religion.  If  we  seek  him  we'll  find  him; 
if  we  knock  it  will  be  opened;  and  my  duty  is  to  repent. 
Repent  and  be  converted.     Repent  and  be  turned  around. 

TURNING    ROUND. 

Be  turned  around  !  I  have  said  before — I  repeat  it  to 
every  man  here  to-night — there  is  but  one  road  in  the  moral 
universe  of  God,  and  that  one  road  goes  to  both  worlds.  I 
can  take  that  street  out  there  in  front  of  this  church,  and  I 
can  go  to  anywhere  in  the  world  I  want  to  go.  That  road  out 
there  goes  to  everywhere — don't  it?  There  is  not  a  spot  in 
America  that  I  can't  go  to  from  that  road  out  there.  And, 
friends,  every  road  is  one  road  in  the  moral  sense,  and  every 
Christian  in  this  world  is  in  the  road  to  heaven,  and  every 
sinner  is  in  the  road  to  hell.  The  only  difference  between 
them  at  all  is — here  is  heaven  at  that  end  of  the  road,  and 
here  is  hell  at  this  end,  and  the  Christians  are  all  going  that 
way  and  the  sinners  are  all  going  this  way;  and  it  is  not 
which  road  you  are  in,  but  which  direction  you  are  going. 
Don't  you  see? 

I  used  to  think  that  a  fellow  had  to  go  a  week's  journey, 
and  had  to  cross  the  hills  and  mountains  and  creeks  and 
rivers,  and  jump  gullies  and  swim  rivers.  I  thought  it  would 
take  him  a  solid  week  to  get  to  the  road  to  heaven.  But  1 
found  at  last  I  had  been  in  the  road  to  hell  all  my  life,  and 
all  I  had  to  do  to  go  to  heaven  was  to  turn  around  in  the 
road  I  was  in.  As  soon  as  you  turn  around,  you  are  on  the 
road  to  heaven  as  soon  as  anybody.     Don't  you  see  ? 

AN   APT   ILLUSTRATION. 

Old  John  Knight,  of  our  Conference — Bishop  [turning  to 
Bishop  Grranberry,  who  was  on  the  platform],  you  knew 
him — a  saintly  old  man  he  was — was  sitting  back  in  the 
church  one  night  listening  to  G-eorge  Smith,  and  George  was 
preaching  repentance  ;  and  was  speaking  of  evangelical  re- 
pentance and  legal  repentance,  splitting  hairs  a  mile  long 
and  quartering  them,  showing  which  was  legal  repentance 
and   which  was  evangelical  repentance.     Old  Uncle  John 


The  Expositor  of  Christian  Doctrine. 


lb 
613 


Knight  sat  back  there  listening  until  he  was  tired.  Then  he 
stood  up  and  said  :  *'  George,  won't  you  stop  a  minute  and 
let  me  tell  them  what  repentance  is  V  And  G-eorge  said, 
^'Yes,  Uncle  John.  I  always  like  to  hear  you  talk."  And 
Uncle  John  started  up  the  aisle  this  way,  and  he  said,  '^  Tm 


A  Practical  Sermon. 

going  to  hell;  I  am  going  to  hell;  I  am  going  to  hell." 
And  when  he  got  up  to  about  the  end  of  the  aisle,  he  started 
right  back,  and  he  said,  ''I  am  going  to  heaven;  I  am  go- 
ing to  heaven ;  I  am  going  to  heaven.  Now,"  said  he, 
''George,  tell  'cm  to  turn  round;  that  means  repentance; 
that  means  conversion;  and  don't  stand  there  splitting  hairs 
on  evangelical  and  legal  repentance. 

WHAT    CONVERSION    MEANS. 

God  have  mercy  upon  us  and  show  us  that  the  will  of  God 
is  that  we  be  converted.  And  converted  means  nothing 
more  than  turn  around.  '' Yerto"  means  "  to  turn."  A  man 
takes  that  road  to  the  right  hand  and  turns  to  the  right — 
that  is  ''  verto  "  to  the  right;  and  a  man  takes*  this  road  to 
the  left — that  is  "verto"  to  the  left;  and  if  you  add  on  that 


514  A  Christian  Life, 

little  ^^  con,"  meaning  ^^  altogether,"  it  means  to  turn  round 
and  go  right  back  in  the  other  direction.  And  when  a  man 
turns  his  back  on  sin  and  turns  to  God,  he  is  as  much  on  the 
road  to  heaven  as  any  man  in  the  universe.  God  help  us  to 
see  that.  If  you  want  to  go  to  heaven,  and  are  on  the  road 
to  hell,  just  right  about.  If  you  are  on  the  way  to  heaven 
and  you  want  to  go  to  hell,  Christian,  just  rightabout.  We 
have  heaven  at  one  end  of  the  road  and  hell  at  the  other. 
God  help  us  to-night,  all  of  us,  to  turn  our  backs  on  sin ; 
and  then  we  have  turned  our  backs  on  hell  and  our  faces  to 
heaven.  And  then  let  us  move  off.  That  is  the  will  of  God. 
That  is  it;  that  is  it. 

Oh,  how  I  wish  I  could  get  five  hundred  persons  to-night 
that  are  on  the  broad  road  just  to  see  that  all  that  God  asks 
of  them  is  to  turn  around.  It  is  yours  to  turn  around,  and 
then  it  is  God's  to  bring  the  times  of  refreshing  upon  your 
soul.     That  is  it. 

TAKE   A   STAND   FOR   THE   RIGHT. 

Now,  I  turn  to  another  point  here.  The  greatest  man 
whose  heart  Christ  ever  touched  was  St.  Paul.  When  he 
fell  down  before  God  and  the  voice  said,  "  Why  persecu- 
test  thou  me  V  he  said,  ''  What  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?" 
The  Lord  said  to  him,  "  Eise,  stand  upon  thy  feet." 

Brother,  the  first  thing  a  man  ought  to  do  is  to  get  up 
from  a  life  of  sin  and  take  a  stand  for  the  right.  ''I  will, 
take  a  stand."  That's  it.  St.  Paul  put  it  afterwards  in  this 
shape:  "I  fought  a  good  fight."  And  when  St.  Paul  said 
"I  fought  a  good  fight,"  he  said  two  things  in  that  one 
sentence,  with  a  vengeance  :  First,  ''I  got  over  on  the  good 
side;"  and  secondly,  ''I  have  fought  with  all  my  ransomed 
powers."  First,  I  get  over  on  the  good  side;  and  when  I 
am  clear  over  I  want  a  fellow  to  get  so  far  over  the  line,  that 
if  he  wants  to  fall  over  the  line  his  head  would  not  fall 
within  ten  feet  of  it.  If  he  falls  over,  I  want  him  to  fall 
clear  over.     A  Christian  has  no  right  in  the  devil's  territory. 

CHRISTIAN   OWNERS   OP   LIQUOR   STORES. 

A  fellow  says:  ^'I  go  in  a  bar-room  because  I  have  busi- 
ness in  there."  But  what  business  has  a  Christian  in  there — ■ 
that's  the  mystery  to  me. 

**Well,  I  go  in  there  to  collect  my  rents." 


The  Expositor  of  Christian  Doctrine,  515 

Tes,  yes;  and  I'll  risk  the  bar-keeper^s  chances  of  heaven 
before  I'll  risk  yours,  jovl  old  hypocrite,  you  !  You  under- 
stand that?  The  bar-keepers  and  whisky  men  are  not  the 
meanest  men  in  this  town.  But  if  you  can  find  mo  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Church  that  rents  a  place  of  business  to  them,  I 
will  show  you  a  man  that  is  not  only  as  mean  as  a  bar-keeper 
in  every  other  respect,  but  he  adds  to  it  the  sin  of  hypocrisy. 
JSTow  [turning  to  the  ministers  on  the  platform],  say ''Amen  !" 
[To  the  reporters]  Put  that  down.  These  preachers  state 
they  said  "  Amen  !  "  They  said  it  in  their  hearts.  They  say 
the  reason  they  didn't  holler  the  ""Amen"  is  because  I  leave 
in  a  few  days  and  they  have  to  stay  here,  you  know, 

A   LITTLE   STORY  ABOUT   THE   DEVIL. 

I  say,  let  a  man  stay  on  God's  territory  if  he  is  a  Chris- 
tian, and  let  him  stand  there  with  his  weapons  drawn,  and 
let  him  fight  for  the  right.     That's  it. 

I  saw  some  time  ago  where  a  young  lady  member  of  the 
Church  went  to  a  ball  and  danced,  and  died  there  in  the  ball- 
room; and  the  incident  said,  further,  that  after  a  few  min- 
utes the  devil  came  right  in  and  gathered  up  her  soul  and 
started  off  with  it.  A  few  minutes  more  and  St.  Peter  came 
along,  and  he  saw  that  a  Christian,  a  member  of  the  Church, 
had  died,  and  he  said: 

^'Where's  the  soul  of  the  member  of  the  Church?" 

They  said  : 

"The  devil  has  just  carried  it  off." 

"Well,  how  long  has  it  been  gone?" 

"  Oh,  just  a  few  minutes  ;  not  long." 

And  St.  Peter  started  off  at  break-neck  speed,  and  said 
he  would  overtake  that  soul  and  the  devil  shouldn't  have  it. 
It  was  a  Christian  soul,  he  said,  and  away  he  ran ;  and  pres- 
ently he  overtook  the  devil,  and  he  said  : 

"  Hold  !  Hold  on  there !     You  made  a  mistake  this  time  !  " 

"What?"  said  the  devil. 

"Why  !  you've  got  the  soul  of  that  girl,  and  she^s  a  Chris- 
tian." 

"Well,"  says  the  devil,  "I  didn't  know  that.  I  got  her 
over  in  my  territory  and  I  reckon  she's  mine." 

FIGHTING   FOR   A    CROWN. 

Well,  now,  you  can't  afford  to  run  over  on  the  devil's  side. 

S3 


616  A  Christian  Life^ 

Anyhow,  youM  better  mind  how  you  die  over  there.  I  want 
to  get  back  before  I  die.  St.  Paul  said  : 
I  have  fouglit  a  good  fight. 
And  by  that  he  meant,  ''  I  have  come  over.  I  have  taken 
a  stand  on  God's  side."  And  when  a  man  takes  his  stand  on 
God's  side  the  powers  of  hell  rush  upon  him,  almost  before 
he  has  time  to  draw  his  sword.  It  is  like  Bunyan  pictures 
it,  when  his  Pilgrim  is  in  the  Interpreter's  house. 

I  saw,  also,  that  the  Interpreter  took  him  again  by  the  hand  and  led  him  into 
a  pleasant  place,  where  was  built  a  stately  palace  beautiful  to  behold,  at  the  sight 
of  which  Christian  was  greatly  delighted.  He  saw,  also,  upon  the  top  thereof, 
certain  persons  walking  who  were  clothed  all  in  gold. 

And  the  Interpreter  took  him  and  led  him  toward  the  door  of  the  palace  ; 
and,  behold,  at  the  door  stood  a  great  company  of  men,  as  desirous  to  go  in,  but 
durst  not.  Therealso  sat  a  man  a  little  distance  from  the  door,  at  a  table-side, 
with  a  book  and  his  inkhorn  before  him,  to  take  the  name  of  him  that  should  en- 
ter therein.  He  saw  also  that  in  the  doorway  stood  many  men  in  armor  to 
keep  it,  being  resolved  to  do  the  men  that  would  enter  what  hurt  and  mischief 
they  could.    Now  was  Christian  somewhat  in  amaze. 

At  last,  when  every  man  started  back  for  fear  of  the  armed  men.  Christian 
saw  a  man  of  a  very  stout  countenance  come  up  to  the  man  that  sat  there  to 
write,  saying : 

"Set  down  my  name,  sir." 

And  when  he  had  done  this  he  saw  the  man  draw  his  sword  and  put  a  helmet 
upon  his  head,  and  rush  toward  the  door  upon  the  armed  men,  who  laid  upon 
him  with  deadly  force.  But  the  man,  not  at  all  discouraged,  fell  to  cutting 
and  hacking  most  fiercely.  So  after  he  had  received  and  given  many  wounds 
to  those  that  attempted  to  keep  him  out,  he  cut  his  way  through  them  all,  and 
pressed  forward  into  the  palace,  at  which  there  was  a  pleasant  voice  heard  from 
those  that  were  within,  even  of  those  that  walked  upon  the  top  of  the  palace, 
saying : 

"  Come  in  !  Come  in  ! 
Eternal  glory  thou  shalt  win." 

So  he  went  in  and  was  clothed  with  such  garments  as  they. 
And  so  with  you,  brother.  After  you  have  fought  the  good 
fight,  and  steel  has  clanged  against  steel,  and  you  have 
warded  off  blow  after  blow  and  dealt  stroke  after  stroke  up- 
on the  enemy,  until  your  worn-out  blade  drops  from  your 
nerveless  hand,  God  shall  say  to  you:  ^'Come  up  higher. 
You  have  fought  the  good  fight,  and  I  have  helped  you  !  You 
have  conquered,  and  I  will  crown  you." 

And  heaven  is  just  the  other  side  of  the  hardest  battle  man 
ever  fought  in  the  world. 

TAKE  A  STAND  FOR  GOD. 

Take  a  stand  for  God  and  the  right !  That's  it. 


The  Expositor  of  Christian  Doctrine,  517 

What  is  the  will  of  God  concerning  me  ?  Peter  said,  ^'  Ee- 
pent  and  be  converted/'  Grod  said  to  Paul,  ^' Arise  !  Stand 
on  your  feet/' 

Take  a  stand!  Take  a  stand  !  I  have  never  yet  known  a 
Christian  man — a  man  who  wanted  to  be  a  Christian  —  to 
take  a  stand,  that  God  didn't  come  to  him.  Take  a  stand  ! 
I  have  never  yet  known  a  soul  to  eschew  evil  and  say,  "  1/ 
take  a  stand  for  the  right/'  that  God  didn't  come  to  him. 

Sir,  what  is  the  will  of  God  concerning  me  ?  Listen  just  a^ 
moment !  It  is  to  give  up  evil,  and  take  a  stand  for  the  right. 
Are  you  willing  to  do  that  ?  There's  something  very  practi- 
cal about  that,  brother.     Listen  ! 

If  any  man  will  do  the  will  of  God,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine. 

That  is,  know  it  for  himself.     And  then  I  would  have  you 
notice  another  fact  in  the  text. 
If  any  man — 

That  looks  in  the  face  a  whole  world  of  human  beings,  and 
points  its  finger  at  each  one  of  you,  and  says  :  ''  If  you,"  and 
*'  If  you,  sir — if  you,  sir,  do  what  God  tells  you  to  do,  you 
shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be  of  God  or  whether 
Christ  spoke  it  of  himself."     That's  the  text. 

And  I  say  another  thing.  I'm  never  troubled  with  any 
doubts  when  I'm  doing  the  will  of  God.  I'm  never  troubled 
with  any  doubts  when  I'm  doing  what  God  tells  me.  to  do, 
and  every  doubt  I  ever  had  was  when  I  had  refused  to  do 
something  God  told  me  to  do,  or  else  Iwillingly  lent  myself 
to  evil  influence. 

A  PERSONAL  EXPERIENCE. 
If  any  man  will  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine. 
Now,  just  a  word  or  two,  brother,  and  I  close.  I  feel  very 
earnestly  in  sympathy  with,  and  very  prayerfully  concerned 
about,  many*people  in  this  house  to-night.  I  have  stood  here 
and  looked  in  your  faces  night  after  night,  and  time  after 
time,  and  I  see  that  this  is  the  crisis  in  many  lives  in  this 
house.  A  man  told  me  last  night:  *' I  went  home  last  even- 
ing with  a  promise  made  to  a  gentleman  at  the  church,  'I 
will  pray  to-night  before  I  go  to  bed.'"  He  wouldn't  come 
to  this  altar  night  before  hist,  but  he  made  that  friend  prom- 
ise to  pray  for  him.  He  said:  ^'I  went  home,  and  the  impres- 
sion upon  my  mind  was  :  ^  Well,  there's  a  crisis  upon  you,  sir. 


518  A  Christian  Life, 

It's  now  or  never,  maybe,  with  you/  and  he  said:  "I  knelt 
down  and  said:  ^O  God,  the  crisis  is  upon  me !  Show  me 
hope  in  thy  word/"  And  he  opened  his  Bible,  and  his  eyes 
fell  on  this  : 

I  cried  unto  the  Lord  and  he  heard  me. 

And  he  found  hope  in  God,  and  last  night  he  testified  to 
his  experience  in  Jesus  Christ,  his  Lord. 

^Now,  brother,  hear  me.  The  time  has  come  for  action. 
The  devil  don't  care  who  does  the  will  of  God.  It  is  not  who 
feels  the  will  of  God,  nor  who  is  willing  to  do  the  will  of  God; 
but  if  you  want  to  throw  off  all  the  enemies  of  your  soul  and 
walk  up  to  heaven,  you  just  commence  to  do  the  will  of  God ! 
That's  it. 

TIME  FOR  ACTION. 

Time  for  action  now.  J^ow,  or  never.  You  have  thought 
enough.  You  have  looked  enough !  You  have  listened 
enough !  You  have  heard  enough  I  You  have  shed  tears 
enough  !  You  have  been  serious  long  enough !  The  time 
comes  now  for  action. 

How  long  halt  ye  between  two  opinions  ?  How  many  more 
hairs  in  your  head  would  you  have  turn  gray  ?  How  many 
more  days  would  you  have  misspent?  How  many  more  Sab- 
baths would  you  while  away  in  sin  ?  How  many  more  prec- 
ious opportunities  would  you  lose  for  doing  good?  Why  not 
start  to-night,  and  say,  ''  I  will  do  the  will  of  God  the  rest  of 
my  days." 

Fourteen  years  ago,  a  sultry,  warm  August  day  in  our 
Southern  State  of  Georgia,  a  poor,  helpless,  wretched,  un- 
done being  I  was.  Oh,  how  dark  my  life,  and  how  helpless 
my  future,  and  how  sad  my  surroundings!  And  I  refer  to 
these  things  with  the  utmost  shame,  and  never  refer  to  them 
except  to  glorify  the  poWer  of  my  gracious  Savior  for  what 
he  has  done  for  me;  and  I  want  to  tell  you,  brother:  You 
might  get  me  to  doubt  that  I  had  on  a  coat;  you  might  get 
me  to  doubt  that  I  am  in  Dr.  Brookes'  Church  to-night;  you 
might  get  me  to  doubt  I  have  been  in  St.  Louis  four  weeks; 
you  might  get  me  to  doubt  that  I  have  a  wife  I  love  more 
than  myself;  you  might  get  me  to  doubt  that  I  love  my 
children  ;  but  I  can  never  doubt  this  fact,  that  fourteen  years 
ago  last  August  some  divine  power  called  me  up  from  my 
grave  of  shame  and  guilt  and  made  me  a  new  creature;  and 


The  Expositor  of  Christian  Doctrine,  619 

from  that  day  until  this  I  have  been  no  more  the  same  man 
that  I  was  before  than  if  I  had  been  two  different  men  alto- 
gether. 

THE   LAST    APPEAL. 

Now,  brother,  hear  me !  Give  your  heart  to  God  to- 
night, and  start  this  18th  day  of  the  December  month,  so 
that  you  can  say,  "  From  that  time  until  death  comes  to  me  I 
want  to  be  as  much  changed  as  if  I  had  been  a  different  man 
altogether."  Won't  j^ou  say  that?  God  help  you!  I  never 
found  peace  until  I  began  to  move  toward  God.  And  the 
way  to  get  out  of  the  way  of  God  is  to  run  up  to  him,  and 
the  way  to  make  friends  with  God  is  to  walk  up  in  his  pres- 
ence and  surrender  to  him. 

Oh,  how  I  wish  many  souls  here  to-night  would  say,  ^'  God 
being  my  helper,  I  intend  to  start  to-night.  I  have  put  off 
this  question  long  enough."  Won't  you,  to-night?  This  is 
the  last  week-day  night  service  here  to-night,  and  won't  you 
now  say,  "  God  being  my  helper,  I  will  make  my  peace  with 
God.  I  will  turn  round  to-night.  I  have  been  going  in  the 
wrong  direction  all  my  life. 


^ERJVION  XXVIII. 
JhE    "pRUIT    Of    THE    ^PIRIT. 

[7b  Women  Only-I 

But  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness, 
goodness,  ff\ith,  meekness,  temperance.  Against  such  there  is  no  law.— 
Galatiaj^s  5 ;  22. 

*IVES,"  I  believe,  is  the  question  before  us  this  morn- 
ing— wives  in  all  the  tender  relations  toward  those 
whom  she  loves.  For  this  cause  she  would  leave  father, 
mother  and  home,  and  these  twain  shall  be  one.  There  is 
no  more  sacred  relation  than  this.  There  is  no  relation  in 
life  that  has  so  much  life  and  so  much  self-sacrifice  as  this 
holy  relation,  ordained  of  God.  This  man,  this  woman, 
mutually  agree  to  take  each  other  as  husband  and  wife,  and 
live  together  after  God's  holy  ordinance  in  the  sacred  rela- 
tion of  marriage,  and  they  further  sacredly  promise  to  agree 
to  love,  treasure  and  keep  each  other  in  sickness  and  in 
health  as  long  as  they  both  shall  live,  and,  forsaking  all 
others,  they  cleave  unto  each  other. 

How  solemn  the  rite  of  matrimony !  How  solemn  the 
vows  on  that  occasion;  and  your  happiness  and  the  happi- 
ness of  your  husband  depend  largely  upon  his  unflinching 
and  your  unswerving  loyalty  to  your  vows.  All  trouble  and 
all  heartaches  in  this  relation  have  been  brought  about  by  a 
want  of  fidelity  to  the  vows  we  have  made  to  each  other  in 
the  presence  of  God. 

Whom  God  hath  joined  together  let  no  man  put  asunder. 

There  is  no  spot  on  earth  that  you  enter  more  sacredly, 
and  yet  some  enter  more  ruthlessly,  than  that  spot  between 
husband  and  wife,  and  interference  there  may  cost  two  per- 
sons their  souls.  It  may  cost  you  your  life.  There  is  no  re- 
lation in  life  in  which  we  need  more  patience  and  more  for- 
bearance and  more  of  the  forgiving  spirit. 

BUSY-BODIES. 

There  is  no  relation  in  life  that  you  and  I,  as  third  parties, 
520 


The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit.  521 

have  less  business  to  be  interested  in.  ^'  Busy-bodies"  sug- 
gesting, planning,  advising,  have  broken  up  the  peace  of 
many  a  home  in  this  country.  A  mother-in-law,  a  father-in- 
law,  a  cousin,  an  aunt,  a  nephew,  oh,  if  you  could  remember 
that  God  said  it! — "  Whom  God  hath  joined  together  let  no 
man  put  asunder."  I  believe  I  will  let  anybody  in  the 
world  talk  to  me  about  anything  and  everything  except  only 
about  how  my  wife  is  doing.  If  she  has  any  faults  I  want  to 
know  it.  If  she  has  done  anything  wrong  I  would  rather 
die  than  to  know  if  there  is  anything  that  would  be  unpleas- 
ant for  me  to  know.  I  despise  tattlers  and  gossip-mongers. 
You've  heard  of  'em,  haven't  you  ?  I  tell  you,  in  this  sacred 
relation,  about  the  best  thing  that  you  can  do  for  those  that 
have  any  trouble,  is  to  get  down  on  your  knees  and  ask  God 
to  bless  that  woman  and  help  her  to  understand  her  husband, 
and  to  bless  that  husband  and  help  him  to  understand  his 
wife. 

Nine-tenths  of  the  difficulties  of  wives  and  husbands  oc- 
cur out  of  the  fact  that  they  misunderstand  each  other,  and 
the  woman  that  will  believe  no  ill  of  her  husband,  and  the 
husband  that  believes  no  ill  thing  of  his  wife,  they  are  the 
happy  people  in  this  life;  and  the  reason  the  wife  believes 
no  ill  is  because  she  knows  her  husband  is  true  to  her,  true 
to  God  and  true  in  all  the  relations  of  life;  and  the  reason 
the  husband  believes  no  ill  of  the  wife  is  because  he  knows 
her  to  be  faithful  to  him,  to  her  God,  and  pure  and  good  in 
all  the  relations  of  life.  I  don't  think  we  ever  made  a  great- 
er mistake  than  to  attempt  to  deceive  each  other.  Husband 
and  wife — I  would  rather  see  my  wife  buried  than  to  catch 
her  in  a  downright  falsehood.  And  how  can  a  woman  ever 
respect  a  man  that  has  told  her  one  downright  falsehood. 

Truthfulness,  patience,  a  desire  to  understand  the  whole 
question — perhaps  all  these  things  are  at  the  bottom  of  home 
felicity  and  home  happiness.  Now,  in  order  that  I  may  do 
as  I  should  do,  it  is  all  important  that  I  should  be  what  I 
ought  to  be. 

Now,  we  are  not  going  to  talk  so  much  on  what  we  ought 
to  do  as  we  are  going  to  talk  on  doing.  I  must  be  something 
in  order  to  do  something.  That  old  song  that  I  was  talking 
about  the  other  day : 

"Oh,  to  be  nothing,  nothing! " 


622  The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit. 

We  have  sung  that  and  cried  over  it  until  it  has  turned  out 
to  be  nearly  true ;  but  I  don't  want  to  be  nothing.  I  am  will- 
ing to  be  nothing  until  the  Lord  gets  hold  of  me  and  makes 
me  something,  and  then  I  want  to  be  something  all  the  rest 
of  my  life. 

This  morning  we  have  an  interesting  subject  ujd.  I  may 
be  able  to  see  many  things  more  interesting,  but  I  can  dis- 
cuss no  question  more  profitable  than  the  one  I  have  up,  the 
fruit  of  the  Spirit.  If  there  is  a  good  woman,  if  there  is  but 
one  true,  good  woman  in  the  universe,  I  want  that  woman 
for  my  wife.  If  there  is  but  one  true  woman  and  one  noble 
woman  and  one  pure  woman,  I  want  that  woman  for  the 
mother  of  my  children,  and  that  is  the  sentiment  of  every 
man  who  lives  on  earth.  Whatever  all  others  may  be,  God 
give  me  a  pure  wife  and  good  mother  for  those  around  my 
hearthstone  that  call  her  mother.  We  will  flee  away  this 
morning  into  a  higher  and  better  experience  and  spirit.  The 
fact  of  the  business  is  we  have  groped  around  in  these  old 
pastures  of  society  and  city  life,  and  we  have  lived  so  long 
on  these  old  pastures  that  the  grass  has  become  mighty 
short,  and  y;ou  have  to  bite  well  down  to  the  ground  to  get 
any  grass  at  all. 

THE    BUD    AND   BLOSSOM. 

The  Lord  help  us  up  into  the  green  pastures  and  beside 
the  still  waters,  where  we  can  feast  and  fatten  on  the  grass 
of  righteousness.  Ain't  you  getting  tired  of  the  old  pas- 
tures? Won't  you  be  led  out  in  the  greener  ones,  and  enjoy 
God  in  the  best  and  highest  sense?  Then  listen  to  this  dis- 
cussion. The  fruit — the  fruit. 
The  fruit  of  the  Spirit. 

The  ultimatum  of  all  vegetation  around  us  is  to  mature 
fruit.  I  look  now  at  that  grand  old  oak  tree  with  its  bare 
.branches,  and  in  a  few  more  weeks,  in  the  spring,  it  will  be- 
gin to  bud  and  blossom,  and  leaf  out ;  and  then  I  notice  that 
grand  old  oak  tree  is  gathering  from  all  the  stores  in  the  at- 
mosphere, and  drinking  in  all  the  moisture  at  its  roots,  and 
by-and-by  I  see  that  old  oak  tree  pouring  its  vital  fluid  into 
the  little  acorn;  and  I  see  the  acorn,  week  after  week, 
growing  and  developing  and  expanding,  and  the  old  tree  is 
bending  all  its  forces  and  gathering  from  all  resources,  and 


The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit.  523 

pouring  its  vital  fluids  into  the  little  acorn,  and  still  the 
acorn  grows,  until  by-and-by  I  see  the  yellow,  rounded, 
beautiful,  matured  acorn  lying  on  the  ground  beneath;  and 
then  I  see  the  grand  old  tree  shed  its  leaves  in  the  fall,  and 
see  its  forces  going  back  to  winter  quarters.  That  old  tree, 
from  the  first  bud  on  its  branch  until  it  shed  its  leaves — the 
ultimatum  of  its  efforts  was  to  produce  ripe  acorns. 

Go  into  the  garden  in  the  spring,  and  see  that  old  apple 
tree  bud  and  leaf  out  and  blossom,  and  the  little  apple  ap- 
pears, and  then  I  see  the  tree  bending  all  its  energies  and 
gathering  from  all  sources  and  pouring  out  into  the  little 
apple  all  its  vital  fluid,  and  I  see  the  little  apple  growing, 
developing  and  expanding,  and  by-and-by  there's  a  ripe, 
juicy,  red,  luscious  apple;  and  then  I  see  the  tree  cease  its 
efforts,  shed  its  leaves  and  go  back  into  winter  quarters. 
The  tree  started  out  to  mature  ripe  apples,  and  as  soon  as 
matured  it  ceased.  It  has  reached  its  ultimatum  when  it 
bore  matured  fruit.  I  grant  you  there  are  a  good  many  in- 
tervening difliculties  between  the  blossom  and  the  ripe  fruit; 
there  are  the  cold  frosts  of  April  and  the  wintry  winds  of 
March  and  the  worms  that  gnaw  at  the  vitals  of  the  fruit; 
but  the  tree  answers  the  end  for  which  it  was  created  just 
in  proportion  as  it  overcomes  all  these  obstacles  and  matures 
the  fruit  for  your  garnering. 
The  fruit  of  the  Spirit. 

In  the  vegetable  world  around  us,  just  as  the  ultimatum 
of  the  oak  and  apple  tree  is  to  mature  fruit,  so  the  ultima- 
tum of  every  Christian  life  is  to  produce  and  mature  Chris- 
tian fruit.  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love.  This  is  the 
fruit  that  blossoms  highest  up  the  tree;  this  is  the  fruit  that 
Christ  raised  upon  the  spiritual  tree,  and  shed  its  blossoms 
on  all  below. 

The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love. 

Every  Christian  woman  and  every  Christian  man  in  this 
world,  in  the  hour  of  their  conversion,  buds  and  blossoms 
into  this  Christal  fruitage  of  love.  If  there's  anything  that's 
Christianity  in  the  concrete,  it's  love;  if  there  is  anything 
that's  contrary  to  Christianity,  it's  ill-will,  hatred.  I  don't 
know  how  you  feel,  but  I  can  tell  you  this  much. 

THE    CHRISTIAN   FRUITAGE    OF   LOVE. 

The  hour  I  was  converted  to  God  I  blossomed  into  this 


524  The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit. 

Christian  fruitage  of  love.  I  recollect  down  in  my  town 
there  was  a  fellow  I  had  an  uncompromising  dislike  and  con- 
tempt for.  I  actually  hated  the  man,  and  yet  I  didnH  know 
the  reason  for  it. 

HavenHyouseen  people  you  didnH  like,  and  sort  of  hated 
them  whether  you  wanted  to  or  not?  The  Lord  loves  every- 
body. I  know  he  does,  but  I  thought  many  a  time  there 
were  people  the  Lord  didn't  admire,  to  say  the  least  of  it; 
but  I  didn't  admire  this  fellow  from  our  town — I  disliked 
him.  When  I  was  seeking  religion  I  never  thought  of  this, 
but  after  my  conversion  I  met  this  man  on  the  street,  and  I 
saw  I  loved  him  just  as  much  as  anj^body  else,  and  I  have 
never  had  anything  against  the  man  from  that  day  to  this. 
If  religion  does  anything  for  me  it  makes  me  have  love  for 
everybody  that  God  loves,  and  that  means  everybody. 

Love  !  Fourteen  years  ago  I  budded  and  blossomed  into  a 
Christian  life  and  love.  There  are  a  great  many  interven- 
ing difficulties  between  the  blossom  and  the  ripe  fruit;  lean 
tell  you  that.  There  are  the  cold  winds  of  neglect,  and 
there  are  the  blighting  frosts  of  temptation,  and  the  worms 
of  depravity  that  gnaw  at  the  vitals  of  the  spiritual  tree; 
but  I  answer  the  end  for  which  I  was  created  in  Christ  just 
in  proportion  as  I  overcome  all  difficulties  and  by  the  grace 
of  God  mature  my  fruit;  for  this  is  a  world  of  fruitage,  a 
world  in  which  I  grow  and  develop  and  mature  fruit;  and 
after  a  while  God  will  gather  my  fruit  in  heaven  and  I  shall 
have  fruit  and  bread  forever,  and  he  or  she  who  fails  to  ma- 
ture Christian  fruitage  in  this  life  will  have  no  fruitage  to 
eat  and  rejoice  in  the  world  without  end. 

There  are  a  great  many  intervening  difficulties  between 
the  blossom  and  the  ripe  fruit.  Many  a  woman,  when  she 
tastes  of  the  pardoning  power,  says  she  will  love  everybody. 
Love  is  the  sublimest  passion  that  ever  moved  the  heart  of 
God.  Love  is  the  power  of  Christ — a  power  known  unto 
men. 

Mother,  your  control  over  your  children  is  owing  to  your 
love  for  them.  Your  supreme  command  over  your  husband 
is  largely  owing  to  the  fact  that  your  love  conquered  and 
your  love  controlled  him.  Love  will  go  a  long  way  in  this 
world.  What  you  can't  do  by  love  you  need  not  try  to  ac- 
complish any  other  way. 


The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit.  525 

woman's  irresistible  argument. 

Love  will  argue,  love  will  contend,  and  love  will  pledge 
itself;  but  above  all  things  love  can  cry.  That's  a  great 
thing.  I  have  had  my  wife  argue  and  contend  with  me  over 
points,  but  I  could  always  beat  her  at  an  argument  or  in  a 
war  of  words  •  but  I  never  had  her  yet  to  cry  but  what  I  sur- 
rendered right  there  and  then.  ^'Just  quit  crying,  and  I'll 
do  anything  you  say.'' 

Sister,  you  have  made  a  mistake  if  you  use  any  weapon  ex- 
cept love  to  fight  with.  Love  !  Now,  at  this  point  I  must 
grow  and  develop  the  fruitage.  Whatever  there  is  to  make 
you  mad  or  angry,  or  resentful,  or  make  j'ou  bear  malice  in 
your  heart,  here  comes  in  the  worms  of  depravitj^,  the  biting 
frosts,  the  chilling  winds,  and  it  is  my  business  to  see  to  it  I 
overcome  all  these  little  difficulties,  and  mature  Christian 
fruit.  It  is  a  sad  sight  to  see  a  wife  or  mother  who  blos- 
somed into  this  fruitage,  and  just  about  the  time  the  little 
fruit  made  its  appearance  she  let  some  one  walk  up  under  her 
spiritual  fruit  tree,  and  flail  the  last  particle  of  the  little 
amateur  fruit  off  of  it.  Sister,  you  have  had  that  done  many 
a  time.  The  saddest  sight  in  the  neighborhood  is  to  see  a 
spiritual  tree  standing  stripped  of  its  fruit,  and  the  little 
amateur  fruit  lying  all  over  the  ground  under  the  tree. 
Ever  do  anything  of  that  sort? 

Fruitage  !  I  tell  you,  too,  if  they  do  you  like  they  did  me 
you'd  have  no  fruit  at  all.  I  must  tell  you  about  how  other 
folks  do  about  maturing  fruit.  Down  in  Georgia,  in  the  peach 
orchards,  after  the  trees  have  blossomed  out,  the  farmer  sees 
there's  going  to  be  a  cold  north  wind  and  a  clear  sky,  and 
he  knows  he's  going  to  have  a  frost,  and  he  rolls  logs  and 
makes  big  heaps  of  brush,  and  burns  them  all  night,  and  lets 
the  heat  and  smoke  blow  over  the  orchard  and  keep  away 
the  frost  of  the  night.  Oh,  how  essential  it  is  to  keep  the 
warm  fires  of  the  Holy  Ghost  burning  all  around  us  to  keep 
the  deadly  frost  away.  It  is  all  essential  that  I  pray  to  de- 
velop my  fruit.  Look  at  your  apple  tree  in  the  garden.  You 
see  it  in  full  bloom — and  God  never  made  a  prettier  bouquet 
than  an  apple  tree  in  full  bloom — you  keep  and  preserve  it 
just  in  proportion  to  the  apples  it  bears. 

<'  Three  different  years,"  saith  the  Lord,  ''  have  I  sought 
fruit  and  found  no  blossoms.    Cut  it  down.   Why  cumbereth 


526  The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit. 

it  the  ground  ?"  The  axe  is  laid  at  the  root  of  many  a  good 
tree  in  this  town.  God  has  planted  and  dug  and  fertilized 
many  trees  in  this  town  until  it  seems  his  patience  has  al- 
most given  out.  If  we  ever  bud  and  blossom  letus  pray  God 
to  letus  live  long  enough  to  mature  ripe  fruit.  Love  !  Bless- 
ed Christ,  thou  art  the  one  we  would  follow.  Look  how  glor- 
iously he  matured  his  fruit.  To  those  who  surrounded  his 
cross  in  his  last  moments,  when  he  said,  '' Father,  forgive 
them,  they  know  not  what  they  do/'  through  all  the 
cruelty  and  neglect  and  ingratitude  manifested  towards  him, 
Jesus  bore  through  it  all  a  spirit  of  love  and  good-will  to- 
wards mankind. 

Kow,  where  there's  love  there's  no  enmity  or  malice  or 
ill-will.  A  woman  whose  heart  is  full  of  love  is  happy  ;  but  a 
woman  that  runs  love  out  of  her  heart  is  a  miserable  woman. 

FUSSY   WIVES. 

You've  been  mad  a  whole  day.  Wasn't  that  a  great  day 
for  you  ?  I  have  known  women  who  pouted  all  day.  I  can 
stand  a  quarrelling  woman,  but  these  pouters  get  away  with 
me.  They  pout  at  the  table,  and  they  pout  in  the  parlor, 
and  they  pout  on  the  street.  Now,  my  little  Bob  used  to 
pout,  but  he  got  behind  a  door  or  under  a  bed  to  do  his  pout- 
ing. I  like  that.  If  I  was  going  to  pout,  I  would  get  under 
abed  and  have  my  meals  sent  to  me.  I  would  never  have 
anybody  see  me  pouting.  I'm  sorry  that  old  pouting  wom- 
an ain't  here  this  morning.  Pout;  when  your  husband  don't 
eat,  you  pout.  So  sweet!  She's  a  perfect  angel  pouting. 
Sister, when  your  heart  is  full  of  love  your  face  will  be  full 
of  sunshine,  and  you'll  make  home  a  happy  place.  Let  me 
say  this  to  you  :  Many  a  woman  is  always  quarrelling  with 
her  husband  about  staying  home  at  night,  and  when  he  does 
stay  home  she's  everlastingly  after  him,  and  God  will  have 
to  reverse  the  universe  before  you  can  make  your  home  lov- 
able. 

You  quarrel  with  your  husband  to  stay  home,  and  when 
he  does  stay  home  you  quarrel  with  him.  ''I've  got  the  con- 
trariest  husband  in  the  world.  I  can't  keep  him  home  a 
minute,"  says  many  a  woman.  You  make  home  the  happi- 
est place  in  the  world,  and  you  can't  drive  him  away.  There 
are  exceptions  to  the  rule,  of  course,  but  if  home  is  the  hap- 


The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit.  527 

piest  place  in  the  world,  I'm  going  to  show  you  that  human 
nature  is  going  to  go  where  it  can  enjoy  the  most  pleasant 
place  in  the  world.  You  can  do  anything  with  your  hus- 
band with  this  spirit  of  love.  I  have  known  mothers  to 
manifest  ill-will  and  spite  towards  their  children.  I'll  tell 
you  another  thing  ;  when  a  wife  gets  mad  with  her  husband 
she  can  say  the  worst  things  in  the  world  ;  but  when  a  wom- 
an gets  mad  with  her  children  she  can  be  the  hardest  upon 
them. 

I  have  seen  that  mother  get  mad  with  little  Johnny  be- 
cause he  knocks  the  pitcher  off  the  table,  and  slap  him  clear 
across  the  room.  Next  day,  Willie  Brown,  her  neighbor's 
boy,  knocked  the  pitcher  off  the  table,  and  she  said;  ^'Oh, 
that  don't  make  any  difference,  Willie.'^  Why  not  slap  Wil- 
lie Brown  over?  I'd  slap  my  neighbor's  boy  as  quick  as  I 
would  my  own.  I  like  my  children  better  than  those  on  the 
other  square — that's  strange,  but  true.  Enmity!  Enmity!! 
There's  another  thing.  I  have  been  in  different  cities  and 
towns,  and  have  seen  some  mothers'  conduct  towards  their 
children — their  married  children. 

MARRYING   FOR  MONEY. 

I  know  one  mother  who  had  her  notions  and  mind  fixed 
that  her  daughter  should  marry  a  wealthy  young  man  ;  but 
the  daughter  didn't  love  him.  And  I  tell  you  anotherthing, 
whenever  a  woman  marries  for  money  she  is  making  her  a 
hard  bed  right  there.  I  tell  you,  every  woman  ought  to 
marry  on  the  same  principle  my  wife  did.  I  neither  had  mon- 
ey, nor  was  I  very  pretty — it  was  a  case  of  pure  love. 

Well,  as  I  was  going  to  say,  that  mother  had  picked  out 
some  rich  young  man  for  her  daughter  to  marry;  but  the 
daughter  could  not  think  that  way  and  love  that  way,  and 
she  married  another  young  man  ;  and  they  did  well  in  life 
and  prospered,  and  God  was  good  to  them,  and  they  had 
everything  to  make  life  comfortable;  but  that  mother,  as 
unrelenting  as  death, never  forgave  that  daughter.  Oh,  what 
a  thought !  Is  there  a  mother  in  this  town  that  don't  speak 
to  her  daughter  and  love  her  with  all  the  tenderness  of  her 
nature  ?  Sister,  I  point  you  to  the  Zoological  Grarden  !  Hear 
me.  Go  out  to  the  Zoo  and  see  that  little  mouse,  how  it  fond- 
les and  rubs  its  young.     Go  a  little  higher,  and  sec  the  fami- 


528  The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit, 

liar  house  cat  as  she  carries  her  little  ones  in  her  mouth,  and 
carries  them  around  into  corners  and  out  of  harm.  Gro  high- 
er,  and  see  the  lioness  as  she  fondles  her  young;  and  she 
would  fight  all  humanity  to  j^rotect  her  young. 

Oh,  mothers,  will  not  the  Zoo  be  a  lesson  to  you  in  your 
conduct  towards  your  children  and  teach  you  to  love  them  ? 
What  is  it  that  could  make  me  dislike  my  children?  What 
could  rob  any  child  of  mine  of  the  love  of  my  heart? 
Whatever  our  children  do,  let's  win  them  by  love,  and  keep 
their  confidence,  and  train  them  for  a  better  life.  A  mother 
that  won't  speak  to  her  children  !  I  don't  believe  there's  an 
old  cat  in  town  that  wouldn't  speak  to  one  of  its  kittens — I 
don't  believe  there's  a  lioness  in  the  Zoo  that  wouldn't 
speak  to  its  young!  Oh,  mother,  shall  you  be  more  degra- 
ded than  the  lion  or  the  cat  or  the  mouse  ?  If  you  will,  come 
to  understand  that  whenever  pride  takes  the  place  that  love 
ought  to  occupy,  you  are  going  to  do  a  heap  of  mighty  fool- 
ish and  mean  things.  Whenever  pride  takes  the  place  that 
love  ought  to  occupy,  how  cruel  pride  is,  and  how  selfish  pride 
is,  and  how  stubborn  pride  is.  When  you  get thatcompound 
into  a  thing  it's  mighty  bad — cruelty,  stubbornness,  willful- 
ness, pride! 

Sister,  just  open  your  eyes  to  the  genial  rays  of  the  Sun 
of  Eighteousness,  and  let  love  spring  up  in  your  heart  and 
live  therein,  and  live  everywhere,  and  live  under  all  circum- 
stances, and  say,  ^'  O  God  !  if  you  will  let  me  bud  and  blos- 
som into  this  fruitage,  I  will  gather  from  every  source,  from 
all  points,  from  the  heaven  above  and  the  earth  beneath  me, 
from  communion  with  G-od,from  visiting  the  sick  and  giving 
to  the  poor,  and  from  all  good  words  and  works  will  I  gather 
and  pour  into  this  Christian  fruitage  of  love !" 
The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love. 

I  am  a  Christian  just  as  I  love,  and  I  am  not  a  Christian 
just  as  I  hate;  and  with  love  reigning  in  your  heart  and 
shining  out  on  all,  you  are  like  your  G-od,  for  God  is  love, 
and  he  that  loveth  is  begotten  of  God. 


There  is  not  a  woman  in  this  hall  this  morning  that  has 
anything  in  her  heart,  but  what  she  could  turn  it  out  right 
here.     Every  woman  here  that  is  mad  or  don't  speak  to 


The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit,  529 

some  one,  stand  up !    [Not  a  woman  arose,  and  all  looked 
cautiously  around.] 

You  needn't  be  looking  around  !  She's  here  all  the  same, 
and  if  you  stood  where  I  do  with  the  eye  I  have,  you  could 
pick  them  out  all  over  this  house.  Oh  what  a  thought! 
Mad  !  Oh,  love,  come  back  again,  implant  thyself  in  my 
heart,  and  I  will  gather  from  all  sources  and  cultivate  the 
spirit  of  love  towards  all  mankind.  Let  love  do  all  for  you, 
and  remember  that  love  is  all  that  Grod  expects.  I  will  tell 
you  what  I'd  do;  if  there's  a  person  in  all  this  city  this 
morning  mad  with  me,  I  believe  I'd  go  and  hunt  for  him  if 
it  took  me  till  sundown. 

I  had  two  brethren  in  my  church  once  who  fell  out  and 
quarreled,  and  they  liked  to  have  fought;  and  I  tried  my 
best  to  get  them  to  settle  up,  but  they  wouldn't  do  it;  and 
then  I  tried  my  best  to  get  them  to  fight  it  out,  but  they 
wouldn't  fight;  but  about  six  months  after  that,  at  a  revi- 
val service,  I  looked  over,  and  there  I  saw  these  two  broth- 
ers hugging  one  another  in  the  church.  They  made  up  all 
their  difficulties,  and  oh,  how  happy  they  were.  I  took  one 
of  'em  to  one  side  after  service,  and  I  said  :  ''  Brother,  an- 
swer me  an  honest  question.  You  have  been  mad  six  months. 
God  saj^s,  when  thou  bringest  a  gift  to  the  altar,  and  remem- 
berestif  thy  brother  has  ought  against  thee,  first  be  reconcil- 
ed to  thy  brother,  and  then  offer  thy  gift.  You  prayed  while 
you  were  mad  many  a  time,  didn't  j^ou?"  Said  he:  ''Mr. 
Jones,  if  I  have  acted  the  rascal  I  haven't  acted  the  fool.  I 
haven't  been  on  my  knees  since  I  got  mad."  I  like 
that!  Some  people  will  get  on  their  knees  to  pray  while 
they  are  mad  with  somebody.  I  found  out  that  if  I  did  the 
joke  was  all  on  me  then.  I  am  hurting  none  but  myself. 
Let  love  through  all  your  actions  run, 
And  all  your  words  be  mild. 

I  remember  once,  myself,  a  minister  about  forty  years  old 
met  me,  with  other  brethren,  and  we  commenced  talking; 
and  after  awhile  the  preacher  lost  his  patience  and  got  mad, 
and  said,  oh,  so  many  hard  things  to  me;  and  I  sat  and  en- 
joyed the  whole  thing,  and  started  off  and  walked  down 
street;  and  after  I  got  down  a  piece,  I  heard  some  one  call- 
ing after  me,  and  looking  across  the  street  I  saw  it  was  the 
preacher,  and  he  ran  across  the  street  with  the  perspiration 


530  The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit. 

pouring  oif  his  face.  Said  he:  '' You're  an  awful  hard  man 
to  catch.  I've  tried  to  find  you  so  bad,  to  beg  your  pardon 
for  what  I  said.  Do  forgive  me,  and  I'll  never  do  it  again." 
Said  I:  ''I've  nothing  to  forgive." 

Whenever  you  stay  in  good  humor  and  they  get  mad  you 
may  be  sure  they'll  come  back  to  3^ou.  Don't  say  anything 
to  them,  and  they'll  be  racking  over  to  straighten  it  out. 
Keep  your  temper  and  love  everybody  ;  and  the  Lord  says: 
"If  a  man's  ways  please  the  Lord,  I  will  make  his  enemies 
keep  the  peace." 

The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy )  and  I  believe  a  jo3^Iess 
religion  is  a  Christless  religion,  and  every  religious  life  buds 
and  blossoms  into  the  fruitage  of  joy.  I  like  that  old  song, 
''Eeligion  was  never  designed  to  make  our  pleasures  less." 
If  anybody  ought  to  be  joyous  and  happy  it  is  a  Christian 
person.  Christian  wives,  joy  will  keep  you  in  perfect  peace 
if  you  make  your  home  attractive  to  husband.  Wear  a  smile 
always.  You  see  a  wife  who  is  always  moping,  and  she  looks 
like  her  Father  in  heaven  had  just  died  and  hadn't  left  her  a 
cent  in  the  world,  and  she's  so  disconsolate! 

SMILING    CHRISTIANITY. 

If  you  would  make  home  wear  one  big  smile  always,  what 
a  grand  thing  it  would  be.  I  love  to  see  everything  smiling. 
I  love  anything  that  will  bring  a  smile. 

As  I  said  the  other  day,  let's  quit  singing  "The  Sweet  By-and- 
By,"  and  sing  the  sweet  "Now-and-Now."  Injoy  make  home 
pleasant!  Make  home  pleasant!  A  thing  of  joy  is  a  thing  of 
beauty  forever,  as  well  as  a  thing  of  beauty  is  a  thing  of  joy 
forever.  Trytobejoyousandpleasantfora  whole  week.  Keep 
your  faces  straight,  and  if  they  get  out  of  shape  let  it  be  with  a 
great  big  smile  as  broad  as  the  double  doors  on  your  parlor. 
I  like  a  smile  a  mile  long  sometimes.  Some  of  you  can't  keep 
your  faces  straight  a  week.  If  you  will  go  home  and  be 
right  joyous,  and  look  happ}^  for  a  week,  your  husband  will 
say,  "  Well,  if  Sam  Jones  hasn't  done  anything  else  in  this 
town,  he  has  changed  my  wife.  I  have  a  pleasant  home." 
Many  a  poor  fellow  wants  to  see  a  brighter  face  on  his  wife 
and  sometimes  we  do  so  wretchedly  we  can't  smile.  The 
children  see  it  all — the  children  hear  it  all.  Many  a  woman 
whipped  Billy,  and  Johnny,  and  Mary  and  Julia  about  fuss- 


The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit.  531 

ing  with  one  another,  and  the  truth  of  the  business  is  they 
had  learned  to  fuss  from  their  father  and  mother. 

I  don't  mean  to  say  you  women  fuss  with  your  husbands 
or  husbands  fuss  with  you,  but  I  know  a  woman  in  Georgia 
that  fusses  with  her  husband,  and  I  know  you  wouldn't  have 
a  fuss  if  you  could  see  her.  I  asked  a  man  once,  "  How  of- 
ten have  you  and  your  wife  quarreled?"  ^' We  don't  quar- 
rel," said  he.  "Do  you  mean  to  say  you  never  said  an  un- 
kind word  to  your  wife  ?"  "  That's  so,"  he  replied.  I  turn- 
ed to  his  wife  and  asked,  "  Don't  your  husband  ever  speak 
unkindly  to  you?"  "  No,  sir  ;  never,"  she  said.  I  looked 
at  him  again  and  asked  :  "  Hasn't  your  wife  ever  given 
you  one  cross,  crabbed  word?"  "N^o,  sir;  she  never  did," 
he  said.  I  said,  "I  would  like  to  get  your  pictures  to  take 
home  with  me — man  and  wife  that  never  said  an  unkind 
thing  to  one  another  in  their  life  !"  Why  not  have  it  always 
joy  and  peace  and  pleasure  and  contentment?  Oh,  these  little 
riffles — these  little  troubles  ! 

We  must  gather  from  all  sources  and  mature  this  fruitage. 
And  then  he  said :  '^  The  fruit  of  the  Spiritis  love, joy,  peace." 
It  is  grand  to  love  and  glorious  to  have  joy,  but  how  sub- 
lime to  have  peace  growing  and  developing  in  the  heart.  I 
heard  of  a  man  who  was  put  away  in  a  corner  room  of  a  hotel, 
and  every  morning  he  opened  his  eyes  the  first  thing  that 
greeted  his  ears  was  the  tramp  of  men  and  the  jar.  of  the 
horses'  feet  and  the  roar  of  the  street  cars  and  the  confusion 
of  the  wagons-.  One  morning  he  woke  up  and  everything 
was  quiet.  He  didn't  know  what  was  the  matter.  "Havel 
left  the  city?  No!  Have  I  changed  rooms?  No,  this  is 
the  same  room  !  Is  it  Sunday?  No  !  Then  what's  the  mat- 
ter?" He  got  up  and  looked  out,  and  there  were  the  street 
cars  and  horses  and  men  and  wagons  going  and  coming  just 
as  usual,  but  there  was  no  noise.  He  looked  again,  and  saw 
that  the  snow  had  fallen  some  ten  inches  deep,  and  all  was 
going  on  as  usual,  but  there  was  no  noise — the  snow  deaden- 
ed the  sound! 

PEACE   AT   HOME. 

Sister,  let's  stay  under  the  snow  clouds  of  peace,  and  let 
them  fall  down  upon  us,  and  you  and  we  will  have  peace  and 
quiet — peace  at  home,  peace  abroad.  I  like  very  much  the 
old  woman  in  Stewart  County,  Georgia,  when  my  father  was 

U 


532  The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit. 

refugeeing  South.  Father  was  going  along  one  day,  and 
drove  up  and  asked  :  '^Mother,  is  your  Imsband  in?''  "No, 
sir/'  "I  want  to  get  some  corn,  if  you  please,  for  my  stock/' 
said  my  father.  "I  think  my  husband  has  corn  to  sell,  but 
he  isn't  at  home,"  the  old  woman  said.  "When  will  he  be 
home?"  "Not  before  to-morrow."  "I  would  like  very  much 
for  you  to  let  me  have  some  corn,"  my  father  said  again.  "I 
can't  do  it ;  I  don't  know  whether  he  has  corn  or  not,"  the 
old  woman  said.  "It's  very  necessary  I  get  some, "said  my 
father.  "But,  Mister,"  the  old  woman  said,  "I  don't  know 
whether  husband  would  like  it  or  not;  and  I  would  rather 
have  peace  at  home  than  abroad,"  said  the  old  woman, 
finally. 

Sisters,  think  of  that  sometimes  when  your  neighbors 
make  suggestions  to  you  about  entertaining  and  one  thing 
or  another.  You  know  how  that  thing  works.  Whatever 
pleases  your  husband,  please  him.  "I  would  a  heap  rather 
have  peace  at  home  than  abroad.  I  don't  live  with  you.  I 
live  with  my  husband  ;  heap  rather  have  peace  at  home  than 
abroad" — that's  what  you  should  say. 

"Peace,  love,  joy,  long-suffering'^ — do  you  know  what  that 
means?  That's  one  of  the  greatest  fruits.  "Long-suffering" 
means,  I  will  bear  it  always.  How  many  w^omen  sin  and 
say,  "I've  borne  that  old  thing  as  long  as  I'm  going  to,  and 
if  she  does  it  again  I'll  give  her  a  piece  of  my  mind."  A 
piece  of  your  mind  ? — how  big  a  piece  would  you  give  her? 
You  ought  to  take  that  back,  and  say,  "I'll  give  her  a  piece 
of  my  tongue"  —  j^ou  can  spare  that!  Long-suffering!  I 
used  to  think  after  I  had  become  a  Christian  minister  it  was 
right  to  resent  things,  and  I  had  two  or  three  fights  after  I 
began  preaching. 

I  thought  if  a  man  insulted  me,  I  ought  to  go  fight  him. 
I'll  never  get  mad  again  with  anybody  in  the  world  unless 
some  one  treats  me  worse  than  I  have  treated  God,  and  I've 
never  done  anything  bad  since  I  made  that  resolution. 
When  you  go  to  get  revenge  next  time,  say,  "I  will 
never  give  anybody  apiece  of  my  mind  or  tongue  until  some 
one  treats  me  worse  than  I  have  treated  the  Lord."  Oh, 
how  ungrateful  we  have  been  to  God,  and  if  you  wait  until 
some  one  treats  you  worse  than  you  have  treated  God,3^ou'll 
never  get  mad  again  as  long  as  you  live.     Long-suffering. 


The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit.  533 

"The  fruit  of  the  spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  ^en- • 
tleness." 

That  sister  yonder  can  get  up  in  style  for  some  entertain- 
ment, but  when  it  comes  to  getting  up  clothing  for  the  or- 
phans, how  she  ain't  there!  She  never  was  one  of  those 
church  members  who  could  do  anything.  I  often  think 
of  the  fellow  who  w^ent  to  Dr.  King,  and  said  his  wife  and 
daughter  wanted  to  join  the  church,  and  said  he  was  ready 
to  pay  for  his  pew.  If  the  devil  lived  in  Cincinnati  he  would 
run  you  out  of  church — he's  always  at  meeting,  and  would 
naturally  want  a  comfortable  seat.  "I  will  rent  my  pew, 
but  if  5^ou  want  me  or  my  wife  or  daughter  to  do  anything, 
we  can't  do  it.  I'll  pay  the  pew  rent,  however."  Dr.  King 
said  :  "My  friend, the  Church  of  the  Heavenly  Eest  is  right 
around  the  corner." 

Many  a  woman  in  this  town  thinks  she  belongs  to  the 
Church  of  Heavenly  Eest.  Nothing  to  do — husband  pays 
pew  rent,  and  does  mighty  little  at  that.  Woman  over  yon- 
der says,  "  That's  mighty  little;"  but  I  have  got  to  get  down 
to  many  little  things  to  strike  you.  "  Mighty  little  !  I  think 
she  has  little  to  do."  That's  so  !  I  saw  a  great  big  fine  horse 
once,  a  magnificently  develoj^ed  animal,  but  he  wouldn't 
work  to  anything  but  a  little  red-striped  buggy;  hitch  him  to 
that  and  he  would  go  a  clipping.  He  w^as  a  great  horse  in 
a  little  red-striped  buggy,  but  he  wouldn't  pull  a  wagon,  or 
a  carriage,  or  anything  else  !  Sister,  did  you  ever  see  one  of 
these  striped-buggy  Methodists  racking  out  Sunday  morning 
at  eleven  o'clock  ?  And  you  can  hitch  them  up  to  any  little 
entertainment  and  they'll  drive  grandly,  but  you  couldn't 
hitch  one  of  'em  to  a  prayer-meeting  to  save  your  life — won't 
work  anywhere  but  Sunday  morning  at  eleven  o'clock  at 
dress  parade  ! 

UP-ON-THE-HILL-FOLKS. 

Many  a  woman  in  this  house  this  morning  hasn't  been  to 
church  any  morning  but  Sunday  morning  for  years.  Those 
old  hills  are  depopulated  every  Sunday  morning  at  eleven 
o'clock,  and  when  I  speak  of  the  hills  don't  you  think  I  mean 
aught  againstthose  good  people.  Some  of  the  bestpeopleGod 
ever  blessed  this  earth  with  live  on  those  grand  hills  around 
this  town  of  Cincinnati.  By  up-on-the-hill  folks,  I  mean 
those  folks  who  are  up  so  high  on  the  hill  of  pride  they  can't 


634  The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit, 

come  down  on  the  earth  where  Christ  would  meet  them  and 
bless  them  and  save  them.  When  I  refer  to  up-on-the-hill 
folks  I  mean  folks  that  won't  work  to  anything  under  heaven 
but  a  Sunday  morning  eleven  o'clock  buggy.  Suppose  you 
had  a  horse  that  wouldn't  work  to  anything  but  a  red  striped 
buggy,  and  then  wouldn't  work  to  that  even — what  would 
you  do  with  him?     ["  Sell  him,"  said  Dr.  Joyce.] 

Suppose  you  couldn't  sell  him,  that  being  a  swindle  ?  Why, 
take  him  out  and  kill  him.  I  wouldn't  sell  such  a  horse  as 
that  to  an3^body.  Taking  your  crowd,  Brother  Pearne  and 
Brother  Brodbeck — if  you  picked  out  your  Sunday  morning 
eleven  o'clock  crowd,  what  would  you  ask  for  them?  If  you 
would  do  like  many  stores  to  sell  dead  stock,  you'd  have  to 
start  a  five-cent  counter,  or  you'd  have  to  put  'em  in  bunches 
and  sell  'em  five  cents  a  bunch,  and  then  you'd  have  to  beg  a 
fellow's  pardon  for  cheating  him.  The  more  of  them  you 
have  the  poorer  you  are.  Sunday-morning-eleven-o'clock 
Christians  ain't  worth  the  powder  and  lead  it  would  to  take 
to  kill'em! 

Gentleness  !  I'll  tell  you  another  thing,  sister — j^our  hus- 
band is  one  of  that  sort,  and  it's  your  fault,  too  !  When  you 
first  married,  your  husband  wanted  to  go  to  meeting  with 
you,  but  you  wouldn't  get  up ;  and  now  he  don't  want  to  go, 
and  the  devil  will  get  you  both  as  certain  as  we  are  hereto- 
day,  if  you  don't  improve.  Many  a  woman  in  this  country 
has  gone  into  partnership  with  the  devil  to  damn  her  hus- 
band. In  a  Church  down  our  way,  at  Eaton,  Brother  Dodge 
was  pastor,  and  he  told  me  he  married  a  Christian  girl  to  a 
young  man  who  didn't  belong  to  the  Church,  and  in  less 
than  six  months  that  Christian  girl  had  her  husband  hard  on 
the  road  to  the  devil. 

It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  be  a  good  man  without  a 
good  woman  to  help  me.  Y'our  husband  will  never  be  any 
better  than  you  are.  A  woinan  must  never  follow  her  hus- 
band, but  must  take  his  arm  and  walk  by  his  side!  I  don't 
believe  in  seeing  a  husband  first  and  a  wife  next — husband 
and  wife  must  be  side  by  side.  I  don't  believe  a  man  has 
any  more  sense  than  a  woman  !  I've  seen  many  a  woman 
who  ought  to  have  swapped  places  with  her  husband,  to  say 
the  least  of  it.  What  does  a  great  big  first-class  sensible 
woman  want  toddling  about  in  this  world  with  a  little  old 


The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit.  535 

sawcd-off,  one-horse  man,  that  ain't  worth  a  cent?  I  would 
go  to  the  Legislature  and  have  my  name  changed,  and  make 
him  take  my  name  !  How  would  it  sound  to  hear  one  man 
ask  another,  ''What  was  your  name  before  you  were  mar- 
ried?" 

Another  woman,  her  husband  comes  home  and  says,  "Wife, 
let's  go  to  prayer-meeting."  ^'No,"  she  says,  "  I've  been 
thinking  about  you;  you  look  so  care-worn  and  tired,  I 
don't  think  it's  best  for  you  to  go  out  at  night.  I  am  going 
to  rub  your  head."  She's  gone  into  partnership  with  the 
devil  to  damn  that  fellow.  Sister,  you  do  your  duty,  or  move 
your  boarding-house. 

Love  supreme!  Gentleness!  Gentleness!  A  woman  can 
win  with  gentleness  when  everything  else  fails.  I  recollect 
a  fellow  was  gambling  one  night,  and  when  one  o'clock  came 
he  jumped  up  from  the  table  and  said:  "Boys,  I'm  going 
home.  I've  one  of  the  best  wives  in  the  world  waiting  for 
me.  Why,  she's  so  kind  and  gentle  that  if  you  were  to  come 
up  home  with  me  now  and  I  was  to  ask  her  to  get  you  all 
supper,  she  would  do  it." 

One  of  the  old  gamblers  laughed,  and  said:  "I've  been 
hearing  of  that  sort  all  my  life,  but  I  never  seen  one." 
Well,  they  all  went  up  to  see,  and  they  rang  the  door  bell, 
and  then  he  introduced  her  to  his  gambling  friends  and  said  : 
"Wife,  we're  all  hungry  and  want  supper."  She  invited  them 
with  smiles  into  the  parlor,  and  said  she  would  get  supper 
as  quick  as  she  could,  and  when  it  was  ready  they  all  sat 
down  and  were  waited  on  like  princes  !  And  when  the  meal 
was  over,  one  old  gambler  turned  to  her  and  said  :  "Your 
husband  told  us  ;  but  we  wouldn't  believe  you  were  such  a 
good  woman.  Tell  me,  how  can  you  be  such  a  wife  to  such 
a  husband?" 

Her  lips  trembled,  and  then  the  tears  ran  down  her 
cheeks,  as  she  said:  "My  husband  is  a  poor  gambler,  and  I 
have  prayed  for  twenty  years  that  God  would  save  him  :  but 
God  will  not  answer  my  prayer,  and  the  poor  fellow  will 
soon  be  dead  ;  but  I  will  make  this  life  as  pleasant  as  possible 
to  him."  The  old  gambler  turned  to  the  husband  and  said; 
"How  can  you  be  such  a  husband  to  such  a  wife?"  And  he 
jumped  up  and  said:  "Gentlemen,  I  am  going  to  surrender 
to  my  wife  to-night.     I  give  myself  to  God  and  wife  for  a 


536  The  jltuU  of  the  Spirit. 

better  life  from  this  hour."  And  it  is  said  that  afterward  that 
man  preached  the  sermon  that  won  all  those  other  gamblers 
to  Christ.  If  your  husband  will  not  be  good,  and  will  go  to 
hell,  make  it  as  pleasant  in  this  world  as  you  can. 

^'G-entleness,  goodness,  temperance."  Fll  stop  here  a  mo- 
ment and  say  something  about  temperance,  as  I  haven^t  (?) 
said  anything  about  it  since  I've  been  here.  If  your  hus- 
band wants  to  drink,  tell  him  he  can't  make  a  bar-room  of 
your  home.  If  he  wants  you  to  stir  toddies  for  him,  you 
must  say:  ^'Husband,  go  down  town  and  let  those  fearful 
wretches  that  are  damning  people  stir  your  toddies  in  the 
bar-room.  I  can't  do  it."  The  biggest  fool,  sister — and  I 
say  fool  as  the  Bible  uses  it — in  Cincinnati  is  the  woman  who 
will  stir  toddies  for  her  husband  and  make  them  sweet  and 
nice!  Gone  into  partnership  with  the  devil  to  damn  her 
husband  and  make  him  die  a  drunkard." 

Look  here!  Whatever  sin  may  be  brought  against  my' 
wife  in  my  drinking  days,  the  angels  will  clear  her  of  that; 
for  she  never  suffered  a  drop  of  the  infernal  stuff  brought  in- 
to her  home  !  If  my  wife  had  sweetened  my  toddies  for  me 
like  you  do  for  your  husbands — some  of  you — I  would  have 
been  in  a  drunkard's  grave  before  this.  If  there's  anything 
in  the  world  a  woman  ought  to  hate,  it's  whisky.  Temper- 
ance !  Go  home  this  morning  and  gather  those  demijohns 
and  bottles  up,  and  take  them  into  the  back-yard  and  knock 
'em  to  pieces. 

Some  of  you  say,  "I'll  want  some  for  my  next  entertain- 
ment." Yes,  the  devil  will  entertain  you  for  awhile,  and 
that  will  be  the  end  of  you!  Look  here,  wife,  my  Bible 
teaches  :  "  Taste  not,  handle  not,  the  unclean  thing."  Best 
thing  to  do  is  throw  out  everything  in  the  house  that  ever 
poisoned  a  soul  or  drove  a  man  to  degradation  and  death. 
One  woman  said  the  other  day,  "  It's  ridiculous  the  way  Mr. 
Jones  talks  about  cards.  How  can  I  entertain  husband  with- 
out playing  cards  ?"  Have  you  an  idiot  for  a  husband  ?  In 
the  asylum  the  superintendent  recommends  cards,  and  you 
go  there  and  you  can  see  the  poor  insane  persons  playing 
cards!  Sister,  send  your  husband  to  the  asylum,  and  have 
him  entertained  there  !  What  do  you  say?  "Can't  entertain 
husband  without  cards !"  Poor  old  soul !  Musthave  been  like 
the  woman  who  was  entertaining  her  husband  at  table,   and 


The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit. 


537 


they  had  a  little  spat,  and  she  fired  something  at  his  head, 
but  missed  it  and  hit  the  motto  up  over  the  door,  ''  God  Bless 
Our  Home."  The  little  boy  said  :  <'You  missed  pap's  head, 
ma,  but  didn't  you  give  the  motto  Hail  Columbia!" 

Stop  that  progressive  euchre  business!  Quitit!  It's  gam- 
bling as  certain  as  God  reigns  in  heaven*!  Whenever  at  a 
game  of  cards  you  put  a  party  on  this  side  and  a  party  on 
the  other,  and  put  up  a  prize  for  the  winner,  that's  just  as 
much  gambling  as  if  the  prize  was  a  thousand-dollar    bill ! 


Ho'tne  Entertainment  for  Husbands. 
That's  playing  a  game  of  chance  for  a  thing  that's  put  up, 
and  progressive  euchre  is  gambling,  as  certain  as  death,  and 
nobody  but  gamblers  play  it.  Sister,  I  would  hate  to  sink 
down  to  hell  with  the  stigma  on  me  that  I  lived  and  died  a 
gambler.  It  is  bad  enough  for  men  to  gamble,  but  when 
women  begin  to  gamble  it's  a  disgrace  to  God's  creation! 
Stop  it!  Stop  it! 

Play  Old  Smut,  and  the  best  way  to  play  that  is  to  go  to  the 
chimney  and  black  you  rischt !  That's  the  most  sensible  game 
of  smut  I  ever  saw. 


538  The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit. 

'^  Goodness,  temperance  and  faith.**  I  sometimes  stay  on 
these  things  too  long.  Let's  live  right,  and  let  them  adorn 
your  every-day  life,  and  then,  some  of  these  days,  we  are 
going  to  have  a  glorious  recognition  up  yonder! 

Let  us  all  go  away  this  morning  to  live  right  and  do  our 
duty,  and  may  God  bless  and  keep  you  all !  I  want  every 
woman  in  this  house  that  can  stand  up  and  say  *'  God  help- 
ing me,  I  want  to  live  on  the  line  of  that  text,"  to  arise.  If 
you're  going  to  run  your  own  schedule,  keep  your  seat, 

[The  vast  congregation  arose  simultaneously.] 


SAM.   W.  SMALL. 


^£I^MON   XXIX. 

[By  Smn.   W.  S^nall,  Esq.'] 

And  his  name,  through  fiiith  in  his  name,  hnth  made  this  man  strong, 
whom  ye  see  and  know ;  yea,  tlie  faith  which  is  by  him  hath  given  him  this 
perfect  soundness  in  the  presence  of  you  all. — Acts  3  ;  16. 

AN    EASTERN    STORY. 

§N  one  oceasion  there  came  into  the  market  place  of  a  far 
Eastern  city  an  aged  and  decrepit  and  travel-stained 
man  who  was  a  stranger  to  them  all.  He  wandered  through 
the  vast  bazaar  without  seeming  to  regard  or  take  notice  of 
the  vaststores  of  merchandise  and  wealth  and  the  accumula- 
ted wondrous  handicraft  of  the  people.  Aimlessly  he  thread- 
ed his  way  about  in  that  multitude  until  he  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  the  people.  Suddenly  he  stopped  before  one  of 
the  booths,  where  hung  gilded  cages  in  which  had  been  im- 
prisoned birds  of  precious  and  sweetest  song.  They  were 
fluttering  their  little  wings  against  the  bars  of  their  prison, 
and  he  listened  intently  that  he  might  haply  catch  so.me  note 
of  their  song;  but  they,  thus  imprisoned,  refused  to  give 
forth  any  of  the  melody  of  their  notes,  but  struggled  and 
struggled  impatiently  and  ineffectually  against  their  im- 
prisonment. 

Suddenly  the  old  man  put  his  hands  in  the  folds  of  his  gar- 
ment and  drew  therefrom  a  coin  of  a  strange  realm.  He  ask- 
ed the  price  of  a  cage.  He  bought  it,  and  opening  the  door 
he  turned  the  feathered  songster  loose,  and  it  fluttered  its 
wings,  so  long  untried  ;  and  for  a  little  while  it  balanced  its 
slight  body  in  mid-air,  until  nature  restored  its  powers  of 
equilibrium;  and  then  it  mounted  up  and  up  and  up,  and 
with  a  glad  song  of  joy  circled  above  the  heads  of  the  multi- 
tude until  it  caught  sight  of  the  distant  cloud-capped  moun- 
tain, where  its  home  had  been  ;  and  then,  with  its  precious 
melody  flowing  from  its  soul,  it  winged  its  way  into  the  far 
and  ethereal  distance  and  was  lost  to  sight.  Thus  one  by  one 
541 


o-±ii  A  Living  Examjple. 

he  bought  these  little  birds,  and  thus  one  by  one  he  loosed 
them,  and  they  repeated  the  glad  notes  of  surprise  and  took 
the  same  course  back  to  their  native  mountain  fastnesses; 
and  he  seemed  to  take  a  greater  pleasure  and  a  sweeter  joy 
as  each  little  prisoner  regained  his  liberty,  and  the  tears 
streamed  down  his  travel-stained  and  dust-covered  face. 

Those  who  stood  by  said  to  him,  ''Why  dost  thou  do 
these  strange  things  V  He  said  to  them  in  reply,  with  a  look 
of  charity  and  joy  indescribable  on  his  face:  ''I  was  once  a 
prisoner  myself,  and  I  know  something  of  the  sweets  of  lib- 
erty/' 

ONCE  A  PRISONER  HIMSELF. 

I,  brethren,  was  once  a  prisoner  myself,  and  now  I  have 
tasted  something  of  the  sweets  of  liberty  in  Christ,  and  with 
the  precious  bondage  of  his  mercies  and  his  promises!  stand 
before  this  multitude  to-night  and  purchase  with  these 
promises  the  willing  hearts  of  men,  the  liberty  of  their  souls, 
from  bondage  more  despicable  and  deadly  and  more  repres- 
sive of  the  natural  melody  of  men's  souls  than  were  these 
gilded  cages  to  the  birds  of  this  far  Eastern  mart. 

I  have  been  under  the  bondage  of  sin,  a  bondage  that  was 
galling  every  moment  almost;  a  bondage  from  which  there 
was  eliminated  every  element  of  joy,  and  from  which  there 
seemed  to  be  at  times  no  avenue  of  escape. 

HIS    LIFE    EXPERIENCE. 

If  you  will  pardon  me,  I  will  refer  to  myself.  I  will  tell 
you  something  of  my  experience,  because  I  would  have  my 
young  compatriots  know  it,  and  know  it  to  the  good  of  their 
souls.  I  would  have  my  fellow-men  who  are  in  middle  life 
with  families  hear  it;  I  would  have  these  veteran  fathers  of 
this  community  hear  it. 

I  was  well  born.  I  was  given  by  kindly  parents  all  the 
true  and  the  religious  culture  that  a  boy  could  have  in  a 
loving  home.  I  was  instructed  in  right  speaking.  I  was 
encouraged  in  right  doing.  I  was  inspirited  at  times  to 
consider  myself  a  child  of  Grod,  and  to  recognize  in  my 
youth  my  responsibility  to  him. 

And  when  I  had  left  m}^  mother's  side,  and  had  left  my 
father's  counsel,  and  left  the  old  hearth  tree,  and  the  family 
altar,  and  gone  out  into  the  avenues  of  the  world  seeking, 


A  Living  Example.  543 

first  an  education,  and  afterwards  position  and  prosperity, 
I  fell  into  evil  ways.  .  With  the  strong  and  lusty  passions  of 
youth,  with  those  whom  I  mingled  I  found  there  were 
courses  and  ways,  there  were  allurements  and  temptations 
that  were  strange  to  me;  and  I  stood  reliant  only  upon  m}'- 
self,  forgetting  the  prayers  and  teachings  of  mother  and 
father,  and  I  was  eager  for  a  place,  eager  for  the  pleasures 
of  this  world,  eager  for  the  happiness  and  the  enjoyments 
that  I  saw  about  me.  And  thus  I  easily  fell  in  allurements; 
thus  easily  fell  from  virtuous  thoughts  and  virtuous  acts,  and 
from  the  virtuous  course  of  my  life. 

The  great  bane,  as  I  look  back  over  my  life,  and  conjure 
up  the  recollections  of  my  past — the  great  bane  of  all  my 
sinfulness,  the  great  moving  cause  of  all  the  moral  iniquities 
I  committed,  was  nothing  more  or  less  than  this  great  gor- 
gon-headed  evil  that  is  devouring  so  many  of  the  people  of 
this  land,  and  sowing  broadcast  sin  and  sorrow  in  this  chos- 
en nation  of  ours — the  sin  of  intemperance. 

I  thought  that  it  would  be  manly  to  do  as  every  man  I  saw 
about  me  did.  I  thought  there  would  be  some  addition  to 
my  pleasure  and  experience  by  going  with  them  into  their 
drinking  places  and  indulging  with  them.  I  felt  all  the  time 
that  I  had  strength  of  will  enough,  that  I  had  force  of  charac- 
ter enough  to  protect  me  from  the  excesses  that  I  could  see 
other  men  had  fallen  into.  I  believed  that  when  I  reached 
a  dangerous  point,  if  1  ever  did,  I  could  put  on  the  brakes 
of  my  nature  and  stop. 

STRUGGLING   AND   PALLING. 

I  went  away  to  college,  and  there  again  fell  into  evil 
courses.  I  struggled  at  times  with  the  innate  manhood  that 
was  in  me,  and  attempted  to  throw  off  the  growing  appetite 
for  these  things.  When  I  came  away,  after  I  had  graduated, 
and  began  to  enter  among  men  and  their  pursuits,  and  en- 
deavored to  acquire  a  profession,  I  thought  still  that  I  must 
mingle  with  my  fellow-men;  have  some  participations  in 
their  customs,  and  in  their  habits;  that  I  must  bring  myself 
into  some  sort  of  agreement  and  harmony  with  their  ideas  of 
social  enjoyments;  and  lyielded  again  and  again  to  the  temp- 
tations thus  presented,  and  again  and  again  I  fell  from  my 
rectitude  and  away  from  ideas  that  lingered  with  me  of  what 


644  A  Living  Example, 

was  right  and  proper.     And  thus  day  after  day,  time  after 
time,  these  passions  grew  stronger  and  stronger  within  me. 

GUIEVING    NOBLE    PARENTS. 

I  could  feel  and  see  that  I  was  falling,  falling,  falling  all 
the  time.  I  saw  that  there  would  not  be  left  in  me  strength 
enough  to  save  me,  though  I  was  unconscious  at  times  of  the 
fearful  length  to  which  I  had  fallen  ;  but  I  would  not  look 
at  the  picture  I  knew  I  was  presenting  to  others.  I  went  on 
and  on.  I  went  until  I  brought  tears  from  the  eyes  of  my 
precious  mother,  until  I  brought,  fearful  lines  unto  her 
face,  until  I  brought  gi'ay  streaks  to  her  beautiful  hair, 
until  I  had  brought  the  lines  of  care  about  her  loving  eyes  ; 
and  until  I  knew  I  was  dragging  drop  by  drop  the  life-blood 
from  her  devoted  heart.  I  knew  that  my  strong  and  manly 
father  was  suffering  on  my  account  tortures  that  he  would  not 
in  his  courage  let  the  world  know  were  gnawing  at  his  heart 
and  at  his  soul.  I  knew  how  it  went  out  to  me ;  how  it  fol- 
lowed me  abroad  in  other  lands,  and  I  knew  that  the  failing 
of  his  step,  and  the  silvering  of  his  hair,  and  the  deepening 
of  the  lines  of  grief  about  his  mouth,  that  had  so  often  spok- 
en golden  words  of  counsel,  were  due  to  the  course  and  ways 
into  which  I  had  fallen,  and  to  the  apparent  hopelessness  of 
my  ever  coming  out  of  them  and  being  reformed  and  being 
renewed  in  mind  and  body. 

Oh,  I  shall  never  feel  satisfied  short  of  the  ability  in  heav- 
en to  make  obeisance  at  their  feet  and  crave  their  pardon, 
which  I  know  has  long  since  been  granted  me,  and  which  1 
shall  ever  see  beam  on  their  angelic  faces  until  I  am  in  my 
grave. 

WIFE    AND    CHILDREN. 

I  married  a  lovable  woman.  I  married  one  who  was  proud 
of  disposition;  one  who  had  high  and  noble  traits  of  charac- 
ter; one  who  had  quick  and  responsive  sensibilities;  one  to 
whom  the  very  taint  of  anything  that  was  disreputable  was 
like  a  knife  stab  to  her  heart ;  but  I  disregarded  the  love  and 
devotion  of  that  precious  wife.  I  went  on  and  on,  unheeding 
her  counsel,  disregarding  her  prayers,  and  from  day  to  day 
getting  grosser  and  grosser  in  my  appetites,  and  getting  more 
brutal  in  my  insensibility  to  her  pleadings  and  her  prayers. 
And  when  children  came  to  bless  my  home,  even  the  sight  of 


A  Living  Bxa7nple.  545 

them  in  their  little  cradles,  unconscious  in  the  first  moments 
of  their  life,  and  with  the  smiles  of  God  drawing  responsive 
smiles  from  them — I  found  it  impossible  forme  to  know  that 
I  was  doing  that  which  would  sooner  or  later  bring  shame 
and  sorrow  and  degradation  upon  those  innocent  babes ;  and 
as  they  grew  from  year  to  year,  their  voices  came  and  they 
prattled  about  me;  it  was  only  at  distant  intervals  that  I 
began  to  regard  the  future  that  was  stretching  far  off  in  the 
distance  before  them,  and  which  I  must  make  either  one  of 
peace  and  pleasure,  or  despair  and  wretchedness. 

THE   LIGHT    OF    HOME   WENT    OUT. 

And  year  after  year  I  went  on  and  on  in  this  course  of  sin 
and  wickedness,  and  the  light  of  my  home  went  out.  The 
love  of  my  wife  gave  way,  but  the  process  of  the  murder 
of  affection  could  not  last  forever;  and  I  saw  at  last,  it  seem- 
ed to  me,  that  she  had  returned  it  to  the  sepulchre  in  which 
she  had  laid  it  away  in  its  tear-bedewed  cerements  forever. 
I  could  see  that  the  love  and  affection  of  my  children  was  turn- 
ing from  me  daily,  seemingly  by  intuition.  They  saw  I  was 
not  him  who  was  appointed  to  be  their  father,  in  the  mani> 
festations  of  fatherhood  that  I  made  to  them.  I  could  know, 
and  know  with  a  treble  emphasis,  that  drove  unutterable 
horrors  into  my  soul — but  it  seemed  only  to  drive  me  fur- 
ther and  further  into  despair — that  they  would  at  my  coming 
flee  from  my  presence  far  away  into  the  darkest  and  remot- 
est parts  of  the  house,  for  fear  of  the  consequences  of  meet- 
ing their  father. 

I  had  friends,  friends  in  position,  friends  high  in  authori- 
ty, friends  who  were  true  and  steadfast  to  me;  but  they  too 
were  unable  to  paint  to  me  any  picture  that  would  allure  me 
from  the  one  I  was  painting  with  my  own  hand  in  the  horri- 
ble colors  of  hell  itself.  They  would  point  me  to  a  goal  that 
my  bleared  and  confused  vision  would  not  see.  They  would 
endeavor  to  lift  me  up  on  plains  of  hope  and  sensibilities  of 
ambition  that  I  had  ceased  to  be  sensible  of,  as  being  worthy 
of  achievement.  They  would  endeavor  to  control  my  appe- 
tite,  and  find  it  as  useless  as  to  bind  with  a  cotton-woven 
string  the  raging  lion  of  the  arid  and  tempest-swept  desert. 

I  had  at  times  my  lucid  intervals  when  there  would  come 
memories  of  mother's  prayers,  of  father's  counsel,  of  wife's 


546  A  Living  Example, 

tears  and  of  children's  mute  and  helpless  look;  and  I  would 
say  to  myself,  ''  I  will  summon  to  my  aid  all  the  powers  of 
my  soul  and  manhood  and  I  will  put  under  foot  this  monster 
of  hideous  mien  that  is  dragging  me  down  into  degradation, 
into  social  ruin,  and  taking  a  fast  hold  upon  my  soul,  and 
which  sooner  or  later  will  drag  it  a  trophy  into  hell.  I  would 
summon  all  my  powers,  but  only  to  find  that  I  was  weaker 
than  a  babe  in  the  arms  of  so  strong  a  passion  as  I  had 
awakened. 

NO   EARTHLY   CURE. 

I  would  go  to  physicians  and  ask  them  in  the  name  of  my 
family  and  future  to  do  something  for  me,  if  indeed  there 
have  been  found  medicines  on  earth  to  minister  to  a  mind  dis- 
eased and  an  appetite  debauched;  and  they  would  exhaust 
their  knowledge  and  their  skill;  and  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands of  dollars  did  I  spend  in  the  endeavor  to  reinforce 
will,  manhood  and  my  own  powers  of  repression;  but  all  in 
vain. 

There  were  antidotes  that  were  published  abroad  in  the 
world,  one  that  is  distinguished  by  its  manufacture  in  Cin- 
cinnati, and  with  the  use  of  which  cures  are  guaranteed; 
but  all,  all  in  vain.  I  spent  dollars  and  thousands  of  dol- 
lars, and  hours  and  daysof  time,  and  I  purchased  advertised 
efficient  and  warranted  cures  for  drunkenness,  and  I  was  as 
faithful  in  the  application  of  them  as  ever  human  being  was; 
but  it  was  all  in  vain  !  vain  ! !  vain  ! ! ! 

There  was  no  medicament  in  them  to  my  aroused  passion 
and  appetite. 

I  went  so  far  that  my  wife,  under  the  laws  then  existing 
in  Georgia,  had  written  by  the  Judge  of  the  Court  in  which  I 
was  the  official  short-hand  reporter,  a  legal  notice,  couched 
in  the  language  of  the  law,  and  had  this  notice  served  upon 
every  dealer  in  liquor  in  the  city  of  Atlanta,  warning  them, 
under  penalty  of  the  law,  not  to  let  me  have  any  of  their 
damning  fluid  over  their  counters;  and  yet,  outlaws  as  they 
were,  disregarding  my  interest,  disregarding  my  wife's 
pleadings  and  the  tears  of  my  children,  and  disregarding 
the  very  law  of  the  land,  they  still  continued  to  supply  me 
with  the  horrible  draught  for  which  my  inmost  nature 
seemed  craving  with  insatiety. 

I  even  employed  attendants  and  detectives  who  followed 


A  Living  Example,  547 

me  as  I  went  about  on  my  business  in  the  streets  of  my  city, 
and  they  followed  me  with  the  purpose,  and  were  employed 
for  the  purpose,  of  keeping  these  men  who  would  not  keep 
the  law  themselves  from  furnishing  me  with  whisky ;  and 
yet  I,  in  conjunction  with  them,  was  able  to  hoodwink  and 
defy  both  detectives  and  law. 

DOWN   INTO   THE    DEPTHS. 

Further  and  further,  and  deeper  and  deeper  I  was  sink-, 
ing;  I  was  getting  hopeless  for  business ;  hopeless  for  all  so- 
cial standing;  hopeless  for  all  the  temporal  interests  of  this 
world;  hopeless  for  eternity;  and  in  the  very  madness  of 
my  disordered  brain,  and  in  my  very  soul,  there  seemed  at 
times  no  avenue  at  all  of  escape  from  this  self-imposed 
bondage  except  through  insanity  on  one  hand  and  through 
suicide  on  the  other. 

I  saw  that  my  wife  and  children  had  given  up  all  hope; 
they  did  not  know,  from  day  to  day,  how  I  would  come  home 
to  them.  They  had  seen  me  brought  there,  day  after  day, 
time  after  time,  insensible  and  unable  to  recognize  them, 
from  the  influence  of  this  deadly  and  poisonous  drug.  They 
had  seen  me  when  I  was  brought  in  and  laid  on  my  bed  cov- 
ered with  blood,  and  it  seemed  as  though  my  days  were  in- 
deed numbered,  and  that  I  would  soon  fall  in  the  midst  of 
my  iniquity.  They  had  seen  me  when  I  was  brought  home 
with  the  wounds  of  the  knife  and  pistol  on  my  body,  and 
they  had  heard  the  rumors  from  the  streets  and  dives  of 
dangers  with  which  I  had  been  constantly  surrounded  of 
late.  To  them  it  seemed  as  though  there  was  no  avenue,  no 
loophole  of  escape  for  me  from  a  terrible  death.  There  was 
not  the  sign  of  hope  or  spirit  beaming  out  from  their  beauti- 
ful faces.  They  knew  not,  from  day  to  day,  whether  I  would 
live  to  greet  them  another  day.  They  knew  not  whether, 
if  my  life  was  prolonged,  they  would  be  able  to  procure  the 
very  necessities  of  life  from  day  to  day. 

They  knew  not  at  what  hour  the  very  shelter  that  shield- 
ed them  from  the  storm  and  from  the  heat  would  be  remov- 
ed  from  over  their  heads.  There  were  visions  of  uncertain- 
ty, of  the  Sheriff  to  dispossess,  of  the  heartless  landlord  to 
distrain  for  rent,  of  the  creditor  to  come  and  take  all.  There 
was  no  future  ahead  of  them,  except  of  impenetrable  gloom, 

35 


548  A  Living  Exam-pie, 

through  which  seemed  to  appear  nothing  but  warnings  of 
deeper  woe  and  agonies  yet  to  come.  Oh,  Lord,  how  good 
thou  wast  to  me  j  thou  hast  given  me  relief  from  that  bond- 
age at  my  seeking ! 

SAM   JONES    TO    THE    RESCUE. 

At  last  there  came  a  time  when  I  seemed  to  have  reached 
the  limit.  Something  strange  impelled  me  to  take  my  little 
children,  as  a  loving  act,  an  act  it  seemed  to  me  of  repara- 
tion for  neglects  of  weeks  preceding,  and  go  upon  the  train 
to  Cartersville,  where  Brother  Jones  was  preaching  to  im- 
mense audiences,  and  from  which  the  report  had  come  that 
there  were  many  and  many  hundreds,  and  even  thousands 
who  were  coming  back  into  harmony  with  God.  And  as  I 
sat  upon  the  platform  endeavoring  to  take  in  stenography 
the  words  as  they  fell  from  his  lips,  it  seemed  to  me  that 
Grod  had  inspired  him  to  preach  upon  one  certain  line.  He 
l^reached  it  with  that  faith  which  is  his  alone  ;  he  preached 
it  with  that  fidelity  which  is  his  distinguishing  characteris- 
tic; he  preached  with  the  earnestness  and  with  the  convic- 
tion that  broke  down  the  casements  of  my  heart,  and 
went  home  to  it.  When  he  had  finished,  those  words  of 
*' Conscience!  Conscience!  Conscience!''  and  of  ''Eecord! 
Eecord !  Eecord  !"  of  "God,"  the  infinite,  the  all-seeing 
and  the  ever-judging  God,  came  home  to  me. 

I  went  away  from  there  troubled  in  mind  and  soul;  I  went 
home  and  back  into  the  devious  ways,  back  into  the  bar- 
room, back  into  the  open  highways,  back  to  the  maddening 
pool,  in  order  to  get  away  from  the  torments  I  was  suffering 
from  an  awakened  conscience.  But  they  would  not  leave 
me.  I  could  find  no  solace  where  I  had  often  found  insensi- 
bility; I  could  find  no  relief  in  potations,  where  I  had  often 
found  indifl'erence  and  capability  to  take  on  a  cool  exterior. 
There  was  nothing  there  to  give  me  surcease  from  the  sor- 
row in  my  bosom;  and  I  went  on  and  on  until  the  second 
day,  on  Tuesday,  at  noon,  I  went  into  my  library-room,  fell 
upon  my  knees,  buried  my  face  in  my  hands,  and  I  pleaded 
with  Christ  that  he  would  let  me  cling  to  his  cross,  lay  down 
all  my  burdens  and  sins  there,  and  be  rescued  and  saved 
by  his  compassion ;  that  I  might  be  washed  in  the  stream  of 
his  blood  from  his  bleeding  side,  and  that  my  sins,  though 
they  were  scarlet,  might  be  white  as  snow. 


A  Living  Example,  549 

I  wrestled  for  four  long  hours  in  as  much  agony  as  I  ever 
suffered.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  when  I  had  reached  a 
conclusion,  when  I  had  come  to  understand  that  there  was 
nothing  of  earth  that  could  avail  me,  least  of  all  with 
Christ,  then  I  gave  myself  entirely  to  him,  made  an  uncon- 
ditional sui'render,  and  that  moment  he  seized  my  soul.  He 
dipped  it  in  the  stream  which  was  white  and  pure,  and  the- 
light  of  heaven  shone  in  upon  me. 

In  my  new-found  joy  I  rushed  into  the  presence  of  wife 
and  children.  I  proclaimed  the  glad  tidings  to  their  aston- 
ished ears,  and  they  could  hardly  believe  it,  though  they 
saw  that  some  great  revolution  had  taken  place.  They  knew 
not  whether  it  was  a  surrender  to  Christ,  or  whether  it  had 
been  a  surrender  to  madness. 

PROCLAMING   HIS    CONVERSION. 

But  when  I  went  out  that  evening  I  had  three  thousand 
circulars  printed  and  distributed  all  over  Atlanta,  telling  the 
people  I  had  found  my  Savior,  I  had  made  my  peace  with 
God,  and  that  I  would  live  a  life  of  righteousness  ever  after, 
and  desired  to  make  a  proclamation  for  once  and  irrevoca- 
ble. They  had  gathered  at  7  o'clock  upon  the  public  streets 
that  night,  and  there  before  them  I  proclaimed  the  fact,  and, 
blessed  be  God,  I  have  been  proclaiming  it  ever  since  with 
increased  joy,  and  with  the  certainty  that  my  salvation  is 
complete. 

Eeturning  home  I  could  see  that  Jesus  had  knocked  at  the 
tomb  of  my  wife's  life,  as  it  did  at  that  of  Lazarus,  and  had 
called  it  forth  in  all  its  pristine  strength  and  beauty,  and  its 
bloom  and  blossom  has  been  my  pathway  ever  since.  I  could 
see  that  my  children  had  found  tongue  to  sing  the  joy  and 
praise,  and  their  hearts  had  been  set  attuned,  as  they  never 
had  been  before,  to  the  melody  of  childhood,  singing  to  the 
ears  of  fatherhood.  I  could  see  that  there  was  gladness,  wher- 
ever I  went,  upon  the  faces  of  friends  and  acquaintances  j  and 
when  the  news  had  gone  abroad  in  the  land,  they  who  had 
known  me  abroad  sent  me  their  glad  congratulations  and 
their  encouragement. 

Blessed  be  God,  that  from  the  day  he  reached  down  and 
lifted  me  up  from  the  miry  pit,  and  established  my  feet  upon 
the  rock  of  Christ  that  is  higher  than  we,  I  have  been  going 


550  A  Living  Example, 

on  from  joy  to  joy,  a  bird  of  liberty,  singing  the  praises  of 
my  Eedeemer. 

And  so,  having  been  thus  saved  and  thus  healed,  I  would 
call  you  who  are  in  that  terrible  bondage  to  seek  relief  of 
the  same  great  physician,  and  to  draw  your  medicine  from 
the  same  infallible  spring. 

PREACHING    GOSPEL   TEMPERANCE. 

What  are  we  doing  with  ourselves?  Oh  how,  when  we 
look  abroad  in  this  land,  we  can  see  how  intemj^erance  is  be- 
coming the  great  National  vice,  and  how  it  is  becoming  the 
fell  destroyer  of  so  many  thousands  and  thousands  of  our 
loved  ones.  What  are  we  doing  with  these  bodies  of  ours? 
*'What,  know  ye  not  that  your  bodies  are  the  temple  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  which  you  have  in  you,  and  which  you  have 
from  God,  and  are  not  your  own?"  Fellow  men,  fellow 
men,  let  me  bring  you  to  the  contemplation  of  the  fact  that 
these  bodies  of  ours  are  the  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
that  they  were  fashioned  after  the  architecture  of  his  great 
brain,  by  the  great  being  who  is  the  architect  of  the 
universe. 

These  bodies  he  made  of  the  dust  of  the  earth  are  bones  of 
his  rock;  he  filled  them  with  veins  and  with  arteries,  and 
filled  them  with  the  blood  from  the  seas  of  his  providence; 
he  gave  us  the  breath,  which,  like  the  wind,  cometh  and 
scattereth,  and  which  cometh  we  know  not  whence,  goeth 
we  know  not  where;  he  gave  us  sight  for  all  the  beauties 
and  grandeurs  of  the  world,  and  inflamed  it  with  fire  from 
the  center  of  his  storehouse  of  fire  ;  he  gave  us  thought 
from  the  clouds,  or  like  them  they  move  ;  and  as  they  play 
in  the  sunlight  of  righteousness  are  transformed  into 
beauty,  whether  it  be  the  beauty  of  the  dawn,  presaging 
what  is  to  come,  or  the  beauty  of  the  sunset,  presaging  the 
glorious  death  towards  which  we  tend. 

And  we  can  make  these  bodies  of  ours  reflect  the  light 
of  heaven,  or  they  can  have  the  light  of  heaven  withdrawn 
and  be  dark  and  dismal  and  foreboding  as  the  storm-clouds 
from  which  the  mutterings  of  heaven  come  and  roll  the  thun^ 
ders  of  agony  that  spread  destruction  and  death  upon  us. 
And  in  these  temples  he  has  placed  the  Holy  Ghost  in  Spirit 
k    us,  and  we  arc  its  custodians,  the  priests  of  these  temples ; 


A  Living  Example,  551 

and  when  we  degrade  and  defile  them,  we  are  degrading  and 
defiling  the  architecture  of  G-od  and  his  chosen  resting-place 
in  us. 

THE   TEMPLE    OF    THE   HOLY   GHOST. 

Oh,  what  a  touching  instance  it  was  when  the  favorite  son 
of  Tertullian  died.  His  companions  were  bearing  his  corpse 
to  the  cemetery  upon  their  shoulders,  and  as  they  went 
along,  occupied  with  their  thoughts  of  sorrow  and  grief, 
they  stumbled  by  the  way,  when  the  grief-stricken  father 
noticing  it,  called  out  to  them;  "Young  men,  beware  how 
you  walk;  you  bear  upon  your  shoulders  the  temple  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

So  with  us.  We  go  about  bearing  with  us  the  temple  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  we  are  recreant  to  our  own  creation, 
recreant  to  our  own  destiny,  recreant  to  the  great  God  who 
fashioned  us,  recreant  to  the  great  God  who  made  us  his 
temples,  when  we  defile  these  bodies  of  ours  and  ruin  them 
with  the  licenses  of  our  baser  natures  and  our  depraved 
appetites. 

One  time  Diogenes  saw  a  young  man  going  to  a  place  of 
revelry  where  drinking  was  the  custom,  and  from  which 
men  who  went  in  sober  and  rational  beings  emerged  besot- 
ted, and  not  knowing  their  way.  He  seized  upon  the  young 
man,  carried  him  to  his  friends,  and  informed  them  that  he 
had  rescued  their  precious  boy  from  a  great  and  awful  dan- 
ger. So  it  would  be  well  if  we  had  friends  who  would  thus  res- 
cue us.  But  there  are  times  when  friends,  as  I  told  you,  can 
have  no  influence,  and  no  Diogenes,  however  wise,  however 
honest,  however  mindful  of  his  neighbor,  could  restrain  us 
from  going  into  these  places. 

But  how  many  Diogonescs  it  would  take  to  seize  upon 
those  that  night  after  night  and  day  after  day  are  going  into 
these  places  of  danger  and  ultimate  death  in  the  city  of  Cin- 
cinnati. Oh,  let  us  seek  to  save  ourselves  through  the  only 
influence,  the  only  medicament,  and  the  only  physician,  that 
this  universe  affords  us. 

What  is  intemperance  doing?  It  is  not  necessary  to  mar- 
shal here  before  you  the  figures ;  you  can  see  it  all  about  you. 

YOU  KNOW  HOW  IT  IS  YOURSELF. 

Young  man,  you  know  that  you  started  in  your  intomper- 


5^2  A. Living  Example. 

ate  habits  just  as  I  did.  You  know  what  influences  have  led 
you  j  you  know  what  ambitions  you  thought  you  could  cul- 
tivate by  listening  to  them ;  you  know  how  you  have  run  out 
and  gone  into  these  places  with  like  ideas  of  strength  and 
ability  to  control  yourselves,  just  as  I  had.  And  no.w  j^ou 
are  buoyant  in  the  consciousness  that  you  think  that  at  any 
time  you  can  slap  on  the  brakes  of  your  nature  and  save 
yourselves  from  degradation  that  you  see  upon  the  planes 
'just  below  you. 

Beware,  beware  of  that  fatal  cup.  There  are  fathers,  mid- 
dle-aged ;  they  know  what  intemperance  will  do.  They 
are  listening  to  me  to-night,  and  they  started  on  that 
road  just  as  I  started,  but  if  they  have  not  reached  the  same 
length  to  which  I  went,  they  are  on  the  high  road  to  it.  They 
can  already  know  that  they  are  not  received  where  once 
they  were  welcome  guests;  they  know  that  they  are  passed 
every  day  on  the  streets  of  Cincinnati  by  men  who  form.erly 
regarded  them  with  esteem  and  claimed  them  as  friends. 
They  know  that  avenues  were  once  open  to  them  of  use- 
fulness, which  are  now  closed  upon  them  forever  on  ac- 
count of  their  habits,  their  companionship  and  their  places 
of  resort.  They  know  that  the  happiness  of  their  families, 
once  complete,  is  now  gone,  apparently  forever.  They  know 
that  the  blanched  cheek  of  that  wife,  that  the  constant  red- 
ness of  eye  when  they  enter  home,  that  the  fleeing  chil- 
dren, are  all  evidences  of  the  steady  growth  of  the  evil ;  and 
they  have  grown  just  in  proportion  as  they  have  gone  deep- 
er and  deeper  into  this  besotted  condition. 

There  are  old  men  here  to-night  who  have  led  a  long  life, 
it  seemed,  of  moderation,  and  who  thought  that  they  were 
exemplifying  the  ability  of  a  man  to  drink  and  drink  and 
drink,  and  yet  preserve  his  manhood  and  his  honest  posi- 
tion; but  they  can  see  that  their  excesses  are  not  only  sapping 
the  foundations  of  their  health  ;  they  can  feel  that  they  are 
untimely  gray;  they  can  feel  that  they  have  diseases  in  them 
that  they  would  not  have  had  but  for  their  intemperance; 
and  they  can  see  before  them  no  life  that  is  leading  them  on 
and  brightening  their  way  as  they  go.  But  they  are  seeing, 
upon  the  other  hand — and  if  they  are  honest  with  themselves 
thej^  will  confess  it  to  their  souls — that  they  are  losing  their 
powers,  and  that  sooner  or  later  they  too  must  sink  into  the 


A  Living  Example.  553 

lowest  depths  of  degradation  and  be  untimely  cut  oif  and  go 
to  hell  to  everlasting  death. 

Families  and  individuals,  whole  cities,  prostrated.  There 
is  nothing  that  is  so  glaring  about  them  as  intemperance, 
which  sweeps  over  them  like  the  storm  over  a  forest,  day 
after  day  and  night  after  night.  Thank  God  that  my  city  of 
Atlanta  has  redeemed  herself  under  the  white  banner  of 
temperance,  with  the  cross  of  Christ  on  it.  Thank  God,  she 
will  shine  as  a  city  set  upon  a  hill,  giving  a  light  to  this  Na- 
tion. Ohio  to-day  is  giving  full  liberty  to  the  whisky  dealers 
to  d ebauch  and  damn  the  most  precious  so  nsofyour  household. 

God  cannot  bless  a  people  who  are  thus  recreant  to  them- 
selves and  thus  recreant  to  their  duties  both  to  humanity 
and  to  God.  Thank  God  that  old  Georgia  is  rapidly  redeem- 
ing herself,  and  that  after  a  while  she  will  still  be  lying  in 
the  very  apron  of  this  Nation,  a  redeemed  State  from  the 
tyranny  of  alcohol,  and  that  she  will  raise  her  banner  and 
commend  it  in  its  purity  to  every  State  in  this  Nation, 
as  it  blazons  with  the  legend  of  Wisdom^  Justice  and  Moder'a- 
tionj  under  the  broad  and  glittering  arch  of  the  Constitution. 

A   NEW   WAR   FOR   THE   RIGHT. 

Nearly  twenty-five  years  ago  misguided  men  in  the  South 
heard  the  shot  upon  Fort  Sumter  that  awakened  this  entire 
Nation,  and  led  to  reform,  and  led  to  liberties,  and  led  to  the 
release  of  slaves  from  bondage,  led  to  what  no  man  had  con- 
temj^lated  of  being  capable  of  realization.  It  marshaled  the 
most  impregnable  arms  of  this  continent,  and  that  shot  re- 
verberated all  through  civilization.  I  tell-you  that  whatever 
were  the  disasters  of  war,  it  struck  the  shackles  from  six 
million  slaves;  but  to-day,  in  a  holier  and  grander  cause,  by 
the  approving  smile  of  God,  old  Georgia  has  fired  a  gun 
upon  the  Sumters  of  sin  and  intemperance  in  this  country 
that  will  arouse  this  whole  Nation  ;  and  we  will  batter  down 
these  forts  of  intemperance,  whether  they  are  in  Cincinnati, 
Chicago  or  New  York. 

The  army  of  God  in  this  Nation  is  on  the  march.  And 
you  may  listen  here;  but  if  you  have  not  the  courage  and 
the  Christian  zeal,  we  will  come  and  break  down  the  bar- 
riers; we  will  impound  the  demon  of  alcohol,  and  we  will 
release  you  from  this  terrible  bondage. 


^^"i  A  Living  Example. 

In  the  midst  of  influences  like  this,  with  these  facts  star- 
ing them  in  the  face,  statesmen  of  this  country  are  too  cow- 
ardly to  seize  upon  this  great  question  and  make  it  a  ques- 
tion of  public  policy  for  the  Christian  people.  Politicians 
go  wandering  about  among  the  lower  classes,  and  talk  and 
rant  about  personal  liberty  and  sumptuaiy  laws,  as  though 
they  had  a  right  to  give  laws  to  these  people,  when  these 
smiling  scoundrels  are  only  seeking  popularity  and  applause 
from  the  foolish  and  depraved. 

Scientists  are  disputing  and  debating,  when  all  history 
and  all  true  science  have  demonstrated  that  no  curse  is  great- 
er upon  a  people  than  to  have  the  saloons  and  the  dissemin- 
ation of  these  deadly  compounds  in  the  community.  These 
whisky  dealers  are  outlaws  ;  they  are  against  the  law;  they 
are  anomalous  creatures,  and  the  anarchists  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  If  they  would  disobey  and  disregard  the  laws  in 
my  case,  they  will  do  it  in  yours,  and  they  will  do  it  in  the 
case  of  every  precious  son  you  have  got,  of  every  living 
father  you  have  got,  of  every  devoted  husband  you  have  got 
in  this  country. 

INDIFFERENCE  TO  THE  WRONG  IN  HIGH  PLACES. 

Churches  meet  in  conventions,  meet  in  conferences,  meet 
in  assemblies,  meet  in  synods  and  pass  resolutions  on  the 
subject  of  temperance,  and  yet  the  very  ministers,  it  seems, 
in  places,  are  unwilling  to  enforce  the  declarations  and  laws 
of  their  own  churches  against  their  own  members,  notwith- 
standing that  right  here  in  Cincinnati  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel have  been  disrobed  through  its  influences  and  churches 
have  been  debauched. 

And  thus  our  very  rulers,  law-makers,  public  men  and 
public  teachers  are  thus  indifl'erent  or  cowardly  in  the  face 
of  an  evil  like  that,  while  the  red-winged  and  fiery-eyed  Zam- 
ael  of  these  distillers  and  brewers  of  the  country  is  sweep- 
ing over  this  land  and  laying  low  in  horrible  death  the 
first-born  of  American  homes,  as  the  angel  did  at  the  com- 
mand of  Grod  in  the  land  of  Pharaoh  centuries  ago.  And  ev- 
ery man  and  every  woman,  especially  in  America,  has  a  di- 
rect personal  interest  in  seeing  the  banner  of  Christ  triumph 
over  the  sign  of  the  beer  barrel  and  the  whisky  worm. 

Is  there  anything  needed  to  arouse  the  humanity  and  the 


A  Living  Example,  555 

patriotism  of  you  people  to  the  iniquities  that  are  being  thus 
committed  in  your  midst,  and  the  sad  havoc  that  is  being 
made  in  your  homes?  If  I  to-night  were  to  call  around  me 
a  staff  of  bailiffs  and  furnish  them  with  subpoenas,  I  could 
send  them  into  the  streets,  and  into  the  back-yards,  and  into 
the  slums  and  alleys  and  tenement  districts  of  Cincinnati, 
and  I  could  send  to  Walnut  Hills,  and  to  Mount  Auburn,  and 
Avondale,  and  Mount  Adams,  and  other  of  your  respectable 
and  high-toned  suburbs  of  Cincinnati,  and  from  the  palaces 
of  your  richest  down  to  the  humblest  huts  and  dens  of  your 
poorest,  and  examine  the  widows  and  the  orphans  that 
whisky  has  made,  and  array  them  here  in  a  grand  mass  by  the 
thousands  with  their  weeping  eyes,  with  their  dismal  recol- 
lections, with  their  mourning,  with  their  hearts  crushed  and 
bleeding,  and  they  would  say  to  you,  ''  If  you  are  men,  in 
the  name  of  G-od  and  humanity  rise  in  your  might  and  drive 
this  monster  out  before  he  destroys  and  ruins  your  homes 
too/' 

Let  us  do  this.  Let  us  rely,  and  trust,  and  work,  upon  the 
promises  of  Christ,  and  be  true  to  ourselves  and  true  to 
humanity,  and  true  to  the  great  God  who  made  us. 


^ERJVION  XXX. 

|j^    ^AD    j^OMPANY, 


Blessed  is  the  man  that  walketh  not  in  the  counsel  of  the  ungodly,  nor 
standeth  in  the  way  of  sinners,  norsitteth  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful ;  but  his  de- 
light is  in  the  law  of  the  Lord,  and  in  his  law  doth  he  meditate  day  and  night, 
— Psalms  1 ;  1  and  2. 

[Mhese  Psalms  are  an  interesting  study  to  any  man.  I  like 
F  to  read  Dickens,  and  Thackeray,  and  Bulwer,  and  Shaks- 
peare,  because  they  give  me  such  a  deep  insight  into  human 
nature.  A  man  may  study  himself  upon  the  pages  of  books 
like  these  ;  but  there  is  more  for  me  in  these  one  hundred 
and  fifty  Psalms  than  in  perhaps  the  writings  of  all  these  mas- 
ters. These  men  I  have  named,  they  give  me  human  nature, 
"  Simon  pure,"  as  we  would  have  it  if  we  were  standing  on 
the  street  or  in  our  store  j  but  David  gives  us  human  nature 
as  it  is  acted  upon  and  influenced  by  the  divine  nature. 

I  never  have  much  to  say  against  human  nature.  I  have 
very  little  abuse  for  a  man  in  his  normal  state. 

I  preach  to  the  colored  people  frequently  in  my  State,  but 
on  one  occasion  I  preached  to  them,  and  the  colored  preach- 
er, after  I  was  through  preaching,  got  up  and  said  :  "Breth- 
ren, there  was  a  truth  that  struck  my  mind  while  Mr.  Jones 
was  preaching,  and  I  believe  it  was  the  truth  before  God  ;  I 
believe  that  the  nigger  is  worse  right  now  than  he  were 
when  he  were  born." 

I  thought  it  was  the  most  self-evident  proposition  I  ever 
heard  stated  in  my  life.  It  is  perverted  human  nature  that  I 
fight.  It  is  the  perversion  hand  and  foot  and  tongue  and 
mind  that  I  pronounce  all  the  maledictions  of  my  nature  up- 
on ;  and  I  have  very  little  to  say  against  human  nature  in  any 
of  its  normal  and  right  attitudes. 

DAVID^S    MERITS    AS    AN    AUTHOR. 

But  David  gives  me  human  nature  as  it  is  acted  upon  and 

656 


In  Bad  Company.  bbl 

influenced  in  the  best  sense  and  in  the  best  way.  I  love  to 
hear  a  man  talk  that  seems  to  know  what  he  is  talking  about. 
I  have  heard  men  try  to  explain  a  great  many  things  they 
did  not  understand  themselves,  and  I  have  heard  men  dis- 
cussing subjects  that  they  didn't  seem  to  know  anything 
about.  Well,  I  love  to  read  David  because  David  seems  to 
know  what  he  is  talking  about. 

JSTo  man  before  him  knew  more  of  God  and  knew  more 
of  humanity,  than  David  ;  and  the  best  preacher  that  ever 
planted  his  foot  in  Chicago  is  the  preacher  that  knows  the 
most  about  God  and  knows  the  most  about  humanity.  He 
acts  between  the  two;  and  every  preacher  ought  to  know 
God  and  lay  his  hand  upon  the  shoulder  of  his  loving  Father 
in  heaven,  and  then  the  other  arm  around  the  whole  race  of 
humanity,  and  try  and  j)ull  humanity  up  to  God. 

And  this  was  David.  He  knew  man  with  the  broad  views 
of  the  Psalmist,  who  had  studied  life  in  all  its  phases;  he 
was  a  man  who  seemed  to  understand  God  as  no  man  before 
him — and  very  few  after  him;  a  man  who  seemed  to  under- 
stand himself,  and  understand  human  nature. 

THE    psalmist's    WISDOM. 

He  gives  us  the  result  of  his  study,  he  gives  us  the  conclu- 
sion he  had  reached,  in  these  words : 

Blessed  is  the  man  that  walketh  not  in  the  counsel  of  the  ungodly. 

^'Not  in  the  counsel  of  the  ungodly;"  as  much  as  to  say, 
''  If  5^ou  want  to  be  a  happy  man" — and  all  men  do  want  to 
be  happy — ''now,  if  you  really  are  in  search  of  happiness, 
listen  to  this  prescription  :" 

Blessed,  happy,  you  will  be,  if  you  do  not  walk  in  the  coun- 
sel of  the  ungodly. 

An  ungodly  man  may  be  a  very  moral  man.  An  ungodly 
man  need  not  swear  or  drink  or  violate  the  Sabbath,  or  com- 
mit any  of  the  flagrant  sins  which  men  are  so  often  guilty  of. 

An  "  ungodly  "  man  means  simpl}^  an  ungodlike  m.an.  Un- 
godliness and  ungodlikeness  are  synonymous.  They  mean 
the  same  thing. 

"Now,  what  is  an  ungodly  man  ?" 

We  say,  it  is  a  man  who  is  not  acquainted  with  God's  way. 
Every  man  in  Chicago  who  knows  God,  loves  God ;  and  every 
man  who  don't  know  God,  don't  love  him.  It  is  just  as  natur- 


558  In  Bad  Company. 

al  for  a  soul  that  knows  God,  to  love  God,  as  it  isforamothr 
er  to  love  her  babe,  as  it  is  for  a  father  to  love  his  son. 

An  ungodly  man  is  a  man  who  cares  nothing  about  God. 
He  is  moral  in  a  great  many  senses.  He  does  not  drink,  he 
paj^s  his  debts  and  walks  uprightly  in  a  thousand  ways; 
and  I  will  tell  j^ou  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  that 
sort  of  man:  He  loves  to  talk  and  he  loves  to  give  people 
advice.  You  know  him,  don't  you  ?  Old  Colonel  so-and-so; 
and  old  Judge  so-and-so;  old  Major  so-and-so,  and  old  General 
so-and-so.  You  have  seen  them.  They  donH  belong  to  the 
church.  They  don't  make  any  pretensions  for  religion.  They 
scoff  at  the  idea  that  anybody  ever  died  for  them,  you  know. 
They  are  all  right.  They  can  give  more  advice  and  practice 
less  of  it  than  any  tribe  in  creation. 

"Why,"  the  old  Colonel  says,  "  I  don't  see  any  use  in 
these  meetings."  He  says  :  "I  can  be  as  good  and  not  go 
to  church  as  1  can  be  and  go."  He  says:  '^  I  can  be  as  good 
and  stay  at  home  as  I  can  be  running  out  to  church  so 
much  ;  and  then  I  don't  see  any  harm  in  a  social  game  of 
cards.  I  never  could  in  my  life.  Itisnot  a  sinful  game.  It 
is  a  scientific  game  ;"  and  whenever  a  man  wants  to  be  a  first- 
class  sinner  he  always  rings  in  that  sort  of  "science  "  some- 
where or  somehow  all  along  the  line.  "It  is  a  scientific  game." 

Well,  if  he  wants  to  dance:  "Why,  what  harm  in  the 
world  can  there  be  in  this,  that  and  the  other?" 

And  the  way  I  can  tell  an  ungodly  man — he  is  always  ask- 
ing :  "What  harm  is  there  in  this  ?"  and  "What  harm  is 
there  in  that?" 

And  the  way  I  can  tell  a  godly  man,  he  is  always  hunting 
something  that  has  got  good  in  it,  and  not  going  about  try- 
ing to  find  something  that  people  can  see  no  harm  in  at  all. 

DOWN    ON    CARDS    AND    DANCING. 

Why,  if  there  is  any  harm  in  cards  at  all  I  have  not  got 
time  to  play  cards,  and  I  am  sorry  for  any  one,  who  profess- 
es to  be  a  true  man,  that  has  time  to  play  cards.  I  am  sorry 
for  a  woman  that  has  time  to  play  cards. 

I  am  sorry  for  a  man  that  has  got  time  to  dance.  I  tell 
you,  when  I  look  around  me  and  see  a  sinking  world  and 
humanity  drifting  off  from  God,  and  so  many  seeking  beds 
of  pleasure,  and  so  many  that  are  needy  that  need  sympathy 


In  Bad  Company.  559 

and  help  from  my  hands  ;  when  I  look  about  me,  God  knows 
I  tell  the  truth  when  I  say  I  have  not  seen  a  day  in  thirteen 
years  when  I  had  a  minute  to  spare  to  give  to  these  things ; 
and  you  would  not  either  if  you  were  of  any  account. 

Just  as  well  be  at  that,  though,  as  far  as  you  are  personal- 
ly concerned,  as  to  be  at  anything  else;  for  if  you  wasn't  at 
that  you  would  be  asleep  about  all  the  time  you  are  awake. 

You  are  hunting  for  something  that  you  think  will  amuse 
you,  and  the  only  difference  between  you  awake  and  asleep, 
as  far  as  this  world  is  concerned  is,  you  are  just  a  little  more 
quiet  when  you  are  asleep — if  you  are  not  one  of  the  snor- 
ing tribe. 

Blessed  is  the  man  that  walketh  not  in  the  counsel  of  the  ungodly. 

In  other  words,  if  you  want  to  be  happy  in  this  life,  don't 
you  take  counsel,  advice,  from  an  ungodly  man. 

SAXONIZED    SCRIPTURAL   SATIRE. 

When  you  are  lost  in  a  moral  problem  you  go  to  the  best 
man,  the  best  woman,  that  you  know  in  the  world,  for  your 
advice.  They  are  capable  of  advising  you.  I  want  a  man 
first  to  practice  what  he  preaches,  and  show  me  that  it  is  good 
to  do  it,  and  then  tell  me  how  he  did  it;  then  I  want  to  do 
just  like  him. 

An  ungodly  man.  As  I  said,  you  can  hardly  pick  a  flaw 
in  him.  He  never  goes  far  enough  to  be  dubbed  immoral. 
What  is  the  difference  between  a  moral  sinner  and  an  im- 
moral sinner?  Just  the  difference  between  the  typhoid  fev- 
er and  the  small-pox.  That  is  the  only  difference  you  can 
make  at  all.  One  is  internal  and  the  other  is  external,  and 
both  kill  nine  times  in  ten  if  you  are  not  careful. 

Our  Savior  used  to  look  at  your  sort  and  drop  his  finger 
on  your  sort;  and  he  said:  '' Oh,  you  whited  sepulchres, 
beautiful  without,  but  within  you  arc  full  of  rottenness  and 
dead  men's  bones;"  and  if  you  will  translate  that  into  nine- 
teenth century  language,  he  means,  ''You  whitewashed  ras- 
cals you,  that  is  what  you  are."  And  if  you  rub  the  whitewash 
off  him  in  spots,  he  is  the  most  deformed,  ugly  wretch  you 
ever  looked  at  in  your  life.     Haven't  you  seen  it  scale  off? 

An  ungodly  man  sees  no  harm  in  anything.  He  is  like 
the  Irishman  in  our  town.  He  was  a  devout  member  of  the 
church  and  a  very  profane  fellow.    A  gentleman  said  to  him 


I'^O  In  Bad  Company. 

one  day:  ^'Jack,  how  can  you  be  a  devout  member  of  your 
church  and  swear  like  you  do  V  ''Well/'  he  says,  ''an'  faith 
an'  there's  no  harm  in  cursing  unless  you  make  harm  out  of 
it." 

I  am  not  hunting  those  things  that  have  no  harm  in  them. 
I  am  hunting  the  things  that  have  good  in  them,  and  so  are 
all  good  men  under  all  circumstances.  They  are  not  inquir- 
ing whether  there  is  much  harm  or  little  harm  in  this;  but  is 
there  good  in  this? 

TYPES    OF    SELF-COMPLACENCY. 

Good  in  this.  Now  if  you  want  to  be  happy,  don't  take 
counsel  of  those  men  that  run  on  the  line  of  things  that  will 
get  you  into  trouble  sooner  or  later,  but  3'ou  take  your  ad- 
vice, your  counsel,  from  the  best  men  and  women  that  this 
earth  has  ever  seen. 

You  take  the  question  of  theater-going,  and  nine-tenths  of 
those  ungodly  people  in  the  church  and  out  of  it  go  to  the 
theaters.  Well  now,  let  us  raise  that  question  just  a  little 
here.  One  of  our  Chicago  preachers  told  me  in  St.  Louis 
that  (during  his  pastorate  in  this  city,  I  believe)  there  was 
a  young  lady,  a  bright  young  lady,  who  was  a  teacher  in  one 
of  the  schools.  She  came  to  him  during  his  revivals.  She 
was  asked  up,  and  her  conscience  disturbed.  She  came  to 
him  and  said  :  "  I  want  to  be  a  Christian  and  I  want  to  join 
your  Church,  and  you  object  to  theater-going,  and  I  can't 
see  any  harm  in  it  in  the  world."  "Well,"  he  said,  "Young 
sister,  give  your  heart  to  God  and  join  the  Church  and  then 
go  to  the  theater  as  much  as  you  please." 

Well,  I  did  that  very  way. 

I  have  been  to  the  theater  every  time  I  wanted  to  go  since 
I  joined  the  Church,  and,  thank  God,  I  never  have  wanted 
to  go.  Never  got  that  low  down  in  my  religious  experience 
from  the  day  I  gave  my  heart  to  God  up  to  this  minute.  And 
whenever  I  do,  T  am  going  back,  as  that  brother  said,  to  that 
old  stump,  to  get  it  over  again,  for  it  will  have  about  played 
out  my  first  stock. 

SHE   MUST    GO   TO   THE   THEATER. 

He  says  this  young  ladj^gave  her  heart  to  God  and  joined 
the  Church,  and  he  heard,  may  be  twice  after  that,  that  the 
young  lady  attended  the  theater,  and  the  next  summer  the 


In  Bad  Company,  561 

revival  started  again  and  this  young  lady  had  come  into  the 
Church  and  taken  a  class  in  the  Sunday  school  and  tried  to 
live  right;  and  one  day,  during  the  revival,  one  of  this 
young  lady's  class  in  the  Sunda^^-school  who  had  been  com 
ing  out  among  the  penitents  in  the  meeting,  came  to  her 
teacher  and  said:  ''Miss  So-and-so,  I  have  an  engagement 
to  go  to  the  theater  to-night ;  if  you  were  me  would  you  go?'' 
She  said,  "I  thought  about  that  girl  being  a  penitent  last 
night  at  the  altar,  and  I  said,  'If  I  were  you  I  would  not  go; 
I  would  come  to  the  services  to-night  and  I  would  seek 
further  the  salvation  of  my  soul.'"  She  said,  "The 
young  lady  looked  me  in  the  face  and  said,  'Do  you 
think  there  is  any  harm  in  going  to  the  theater?'  And  I 
said,  'Well,  I — I — I — well,  I  should  any  how  while  I  was 
seeking  religion,  I  wouldn't  go.' "  "  Well,"  she  said,  '  Miss 
So-and-So,  do  you  go  to  the  theater?'  I  said, 'I — I — I — I 
do;  occasionally"  I  go.'  'Well,  do  you  think  it  is  right  for 
you  to  go  as  a  Christian  ?'  'Well,  I  don't  know,'  she  says, 
'Miss  So-and-So,  if  you  can  go  as  a  Christian,  can't  I  go  as  a 
penitent?'  and  I  looked  that  sweet  girl  in  the  face  and  said, 
'  Darling,  I  will  never  put  my  feet  in  another  theater  while 
I  live,  Grod  being  my  helper."' 

And  she  said  to  her  pastor,  "  Sir,  I  saw  that  my  liberty 
as  a  Christian  was  costing  that  girl  her  soul,  and  I  said  my 
liberty  shall  never  do  that,  and  I  gave  up  the  thing  that 
would  lead  her  soul  away  from  God." 

That  is  the  way  Christian  people  should  settle  questions 
every  time. 

My  liberty  and  license  in  these  things  shall  never  cost  a 
human  being  his  soul.  No  harm  in  this,  and  no  harm  in  that. 
The  Lord  cure  us  of  this  abominable  way  we  have  got  of 
talking  about  "what  harm  is  there  in  this  ?"  and  pat  us  all 
hunting  things  that  we  don't  have  to  ask  that  question  about. 

conscience's  misgivings. 

Why,  I  have  been  asked  many  a  time  if  there  is  any  harm 
in  theaters,  and  this,  that,  and  the  other,  but  nobody  ever 
did  ask  me  did  I  think  there  was  any  harm  in  family  pray- 
er.    Never ! 

Nobody  ever  asked  me  if  I  thought  there  was  any  harm 
in  reading  the  Bible.     Nobody  ever  asked  me  if  I  thought 


562  In  Bad  Company. 

there  was  any  harm  in  praj^ing  secretly  for  God's  grace  and 
help.  Noboby  ever  asked  me  that  question.  Do  you  want 
to  know  why  ?  Just  because  they  knew  there  was  no  harm 
in  it ;  and  you  know  why  they  asked  me  the  other  questions? 
Because  they  knew  there  was  harm  in  it. 

That  settles  the  whole  question. 

You  take  a  Universalist  (and  I  have  a  great  many  friends 
who  are  Universalists) — and  I  am  sorry  for  a  fellow  that  has 
got  to  go  on  that  sort  of  a  free  coach,  that  has  got  to  take 
every  scoundrel  on  earth  and  out  of  hell  to  heaven  with  him 
in  order  to  get  there  himself. 

I  never  did  like  that  sort  of  a  schedule,  and  I  say  to  you, 
my  brethren,  don't  risk  yourselves  on  those  theories.  You 
come  square  up  to  the  measure  and  get  j^our  advice  from  the 
good  of  the  earth,  and  live  on  that  plane  with  them  and  die 
by  their  sides.  ^'The  counsel  of  the  ungodly.^'  ^Now,  "Bless- 
ed is  the  man  that  walketh" — w-a-1-k-e-t-h — "not  in  the 
counsel  of  the  ungodly." 

And  now,  when  a  man  gets  to  listening  to  this  bad  com- 
pany for  awhile,  the  next  thing  you  know  he  is  going  to 
"stand  in  the  way  of  sinners."  Just  now  he  was  "  walking 
in  the  counsel  of  the  ungodly,  and  now  he  is  "standing  in 
the  way  of  sinners."  Now  I  have  heard  of  preachers  saying 
that  standing  in  the  way  of  sinners  meant  getting  ahead  of 
them  and  blocking  up  the  way,  so  that  they  couldn't  get  by 
the  kingdom.  Well,  there's  no  such  thing  as  that  anywhere 
in  this  expression.  Standing  in  the  way  of  sinners  means 
keeping  company  with  sinners,  and  the  man  who  is  going  to 
listen  to  bad  company  will,  after  a  while,  get  to  keeping 
company  with  that  sort.  And  I  tell  you  another  thing:  I 
don't  care  whose  boy,  or  whose  girl  or  whose  wife,  or  whose 
husband  you  are,  you  can't  stand  the  pressure  of  bad  com- 
pany. When  a  man  gets  so  he  listens  to  bad  company,  the 
next  thing  you  hear  from  him  he  is  in  bad  company. 

We  have  got  to  reform  ourselves  on  this  question  of  com- 
pany. 

HITTING  THEIR  FRIENDS. 

There  is  not  an  angel  in  heaven  that  could  keep  the  com- 
pany some  of  you  do  and  be  pure;  and  above  everything 
else  in  the  universe,  a  man  ought  to  be  choice  about  his 
company  and  about  his  books.  If  you  will  show  me  the  com' 


In  Bad  Corny  any.  563 

pany  yon  keep,  I'll  write  your  biography  ten  years  ahead  of 
your  death,  and  I'll  never  miss  the  mark  one  time  in  ten. 

AH  I  want  to  know  of  any  man  or  any  boy  is  what  sort  of 
company  he  is  keeping.  Evil  communications  corrupt  good 
morals.  ^'  Birds  of  a  feather  flock  together;''  and  I  tell  you 
another  thing  :  there  is  but  one  safe  rule  on  this  line.  Don't 
you  ever  go  with  anybody  else  that  will  say  what  you  won't 
say,  or  who  will  do  a  thing  that  jo\i  won't  do.  You  won't 
run  with  them  long  until  you  will  be  doing  and  saying  those 
things  yourself.  Always  hunt  better  company  than  you  are 
— although,  when  some  of  ourselves  get  off  all  to  ourselves, 
we  are  keeping  company  with  the  biggest  rascal  in  town, 
right  there.  I  am  sorry  for  a  fellow,  that,  every  time  he  gets 
off'  to  himself,  he  is  in  the  worst  company  he  was  ever  in  in 
his  life.     I  will  illustrate  that  for  you. 

A  STINGY  MAN. 

There  was  a  very  stingy  man  I  heard  of  once.  Thej?-  are 
scarce,  you  know;  but  occasionally  you  will  run  across  a  stin- 
gy man.  Well,  we  run  across  one  down  in  our  country.  His 
wife  was  a  Methodist,  and  he  would  go  with  his  wife  to  the 
church,  but  he  would  not  even  give  a  dime  towards  the  sup- 
port of  the  Church.  He  was  very  close.  One  summer  he  em- 
braced religion  and  joined  the  Church  himself.  Well,  short- 
ly after  he  joined  the  Church  the  steward  went  over  to  his 
house  and  spoke  to  him  kindly,  and  told  him  :  ^'  Our  preach- 
er is  scarcely  supplied  now  with  provisions,  and  I  came  ov- 
er to  see  if  I  could  get  some  meat  from  you  for  him."  He  had 
a  smokehouse  full ;  and  he  thought  a  minute  ;  and,  '^  Why," 
said  he,  ^^  certainly,  I  will  give  the  preacher  some  meat." 
He  went  out  to  the  smc  kehouse — the  steward  was  at  the  win- 
dow looking — he  walked  out  to  the  smokehouse  and  unlock- 
ed the  door,  and  took  a  big,  fine  ham  down,  and  brought  it 
about  half-way  across  toward  the  house  ;  and  then  he  laid  it 
down  in  the  path  and  looked  at  it  a  minute  ;  then  he  turned 
around  and  walked  back  to  the  smokehouse  and  got  anoth- 
er, and  came  and  laid  it  down  and  stood  and  looked  at  it  a 
minute;  and  then  he  turned  right  around  to  the  smokehouse 
and  got  another,  and  came  and  laid  it  down;  the  steward 
was  watching  him  ;  he  looked  down  at  the  three  hams,  and, 
says  he,  '^  If  you  won't  shut  your  mouth,  you  old  stingy  dev- 

36 


564  In  Bad  Company. 

il  you,  I'll  go  and  give  him  all  the  meat  that  is  in  that  smoke- 
house/'    The  devil  was  in  him. 

The  devil  was  in  him,  and  the  devil  asked  him  every  time: 
"  Are  you  going  to  give  away  that  ham  ?  Give  away  that 
ham  ?''  And  the  devil  just  kept  after  him,  and  he  tried  to 
hush  the  devil's  mouth  by  putting  in  one  ham  at  a  time, 
hanging  on  to  him  so  that  he  finally  said:  "If  you  don't 
hush,  I'll  give  him  every  ham  in  town." 

So  a  man  can  be  in  bad  company  when  he  is  by  himself. 

Bad  company  will  ruin  you. 

HELL  IN  CITY  CLUBS. 

Above  all  things,  we  ought  to  be  careful  of  the  associations 
of  our  children,  If  that  neighbor  of  j^ours  is  worth  $50,000 
or  $75,000,  or  $100,000,  he  may  have  the  worst  chileren  in 
town,  and  yet  you  let  his  children  come  and  play  with  and 
ruin  yours  because  he  has  a  little  money. 

Did  you  ever  notice  that  streak  in  human  nature  ?  If  that 
neighbor's  son  of  yours  is  the  worst  debauched  young  man 
in  this  town,  and  yet  drives  a  fine  horse  to  a  buggy  in  the 
streets  of  this  city,  and  belongs  to  one  of  the  fashionable 
clubs — and,  G-od  bless  you,  that's  all  I  want  to  know  of 
any  man;  and  it's  only  a  question  of  time  when  he  will  be 
drowned  in  debauchery  and  ruin  if  he's  a  member  in  a  city 
club. 

I  have  preached  in  different  cities,  and  I  have  worked 
with  all  my  might,  and  I  have  preached  to  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  people.  I  have  seen  almost — I  have  seen 
thousands  converted  in  different  cities;  but,  as  God  is  my 
judge,  I  have  never  yet  known  of  anj^  member  of  a  city  club 
ever  being  converted  to  God,  and  that  is  the  saddest  com- 
mentary that  God  or  man  can  pronounce  on  that  kind  of 
company. 

Just  as  soon  as  one  of  them  becomes  impressed  with  the 
gospel,  and  he  gets  back  into  his  company,  they  ridicule 
him  and  laugh  him  out  of  his  impression. 

A  man  is  almost  as  certainly  doomed  as  he  will  ever  be 
damned  when  he  gets  into  these  institutions. 

Bad  company!  And  I  have  nothing  worse  to  say  about 
clubs  than  the  fact  that  in  all  my  ministry  I  have  never  seen 
a  member  of  a  club  give   his   heart  to    God  and  join  the 


In  Bad  Company. 


565 


Church  ;  and  I  don't  care  if  yon  are  as  pious  as  Job,  if  you 
will  join  one  of  these  clubs  and  begin  to  run  with  them,  I 
would  swap  chances  with  Judas  Iscariot,  if  I  was  you,  for 
your  hope  of  heaven. 

I  am  determined  to  be  understood,  you  see,  and  you  all 
can  disagree  with  me,  if  you  want  to  -,  but  you  can't  go 
away  from  here  and  say,  ''I  declare  I  didn't  understand 
that  fellow." 

I  want  you  to  know,  you  see,  what  I  am  talking  about. 

SOME   KICKING   DADDIES   WANTED. 

Company!     A  young  man    can    move  out    in  this  town 


A  KicJdng  Dadchfs   Welcoine  to  the  Fast  Young  Man. 

that  has  $20,000  or  $100,000  in  his  own  right.  He  drives 
round  here  in  style,  and  smokes  the  finest  Havana  cigars, 
and  drinks  the  finest  wines,  and  he  can  debauch  himself  all 
the  week  in  his  drunkenness  and  spreeing;  and  Saturday 


566  In  Bad  Company. 

he  can  spend  the  whole  night  in  a  shameless  place,  and  on 
Sunday  afternoon,  all  dressed  up  and  perfumed,  he  can  sit 
in  your  parlor  with  one  of  the  nicest  young  ladies  in  this 
city. 

I  tell  you  what  we  need. 

We  need  some  daddies  in  this  country  that  will  just  meet 
these  young  bucks  at  the  frontdoor  and  kick  them  right  out 
over  the  front  gate.  [Here  Brother  Jones  suited  the  action 
to  the  words,  and  the  audience  responded  with  two  rounds 
of  applause.] 

Some  one  said,  ^'  If  I  could  mother  the  world  I  could  save 
the  world;"  and  in  this  kicking  sense,  if  I  could  father  the 
world,  I  could  come  nigher  to  saving  the  world. 

A  young  lady,  a  girl,  or  a  grown  woman,  that  will  marry 
a  man  with  his  breath  tainted  with  whisky  is  the  biggest 
fool  this  world  ever  looked  in  the  face  of. 
Nor  standeth  in  the  way  of  sinners. 

Keep  out  of  bad  company. 

You  recollect  the  young  lady  who  said,  '^  Father,  may  I 
go  to  the  ball  to-night  at  a  certain  place?"  "No,  daughter,  I 
don't  want  you  to  go."  "Well, why,  father?"  "Well,  daughter, 
I  don't  like  the  company  you  will  be  in."  "  Well,  father,  I 
knowall  of  them  are  notgood  thatwill  be  there,  but  I  am  not 
afraid  of  their  hurting  me."  About  that  time  there  was  a 
dead  coal  lying  upon  the  hearth,  and  he  said  :  "  Daughter, 
what  is  that?"  She  said,  "A  dead  coal."  "  Pick  it  up."  She 
picked  it  up  in  her  fingers,  and  he  said,  '■'■  Does  itburn  you  ?" 
"No,  sir."  Well,  throw  it  down."  She  threw  it  down,  and 
he  said,  "Daughter,  what  is  that  on  your  fingers?"  She  said, 
"  It  is  smut."  "  Well,  daughter,  remember  when  you  go  in- 
to bad  company,  if  they  don't  burn  you  they  will  smut  you 
every  time."     Every  time.     You  can't  dodge  it. 

AN  APPEAL  TO  PARENTS. 

O,  man,  look  to  the  company  of  your  children  ;  fathers, 
look  to  the  company  of  your  young  sons,  and  I  say  to  you 
to-night,  whenever  it  becomes  a  known  fact  that  my  daugh- 
ters keep  company  with  dissipated  young  men  and  my  sons 
have  gone  out  into  bad  company,  I  shall  lose  all  hope  forthe 
future  of  my  children. 

Oh,  stand  by  your  children  and  protect  them. 


In  Bad  Company,  567 

Nor  stand  in  the  way  of  the  sinful. 

Now,  boys,  listen  to  me.  You  never  can  get  higher  than 
the  company  you  keep.  Listen,  boys  :  If  you  would  be  noble 
and  true,  seek  the  best  atmosphere  of  earth  and  live  in  it 
forever. 

Nor  stand  in  the  way  of  the  sinner. 

Now,  he  said  :  ^ 

Nor  sit  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful. 

Now,  brethren,  we  notice,  first,  he  is  walking  along, 
walking  along,  in  the  counsel  of  the  ungodly.  Now, 
you  see  that  posture,  that  attitude,  walking  along  in  the 
counsel  of  the  ungodly.  Well,  now,  when  a  man  is  walk- 
ing along  his  way,  he  can  turn  to  the  right  or  turn  to  the 
left  by  the  movement  of  a  set  of  muscles;  but  you  let  him 
stand  right  so,  still,  and  he  has  got  to  move  every  muscle  in 
his  body  to  get  off,  and  then  let  him  sit  down,  and  nine  times 
out  often  he  is  there  to  stay.  Walk  along  in  your  youthful 
days  in  Grod's  ways,  and  let  him  embrace  and  love  you,  and 
turn  you,  and  by-and-by  you  get  to  standing. 

You  get  into  a  standing  posture,  and  now  the  thunder  of  all 
worlds  cannot  shake  you  or  turn  you  from  the  wretched 
last  stage,  the  ante-room  of  hell ;  and  that  is  sitting  in  the 
seat  of  the  scornful. 


God  pity  the  poor  wretch  that  went,  through  bad  counsel, 
into  bad  company,  until  finally  he  has  sat  down  in  the  seat 
of  the  scornful,  where  he  can  laughatthepreacher  and  make 
fun  of  God  and  scorn  the  Bible. 
Nor  sit  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful. 

I  will  tell  you,  among  other  things,  what  has  done  agreat 
deal  of  harm  in  Chicago:  these  opera  houses  and  places  filling 
up  to  hear  such  men  as  Bob  IngersoU  lecture. 

I  have  said  it  before,  and  I  can  say  it  in  Chicago,  where  I 
understand  he  is  a  very  popular  lecturer :  If  I  had  a  dog  and 
he  were  to  jump  out  of  my  yard  at  night  and  go  to  hear  Bob 
Ingcrsoll  blaspheming  the  name  of  God,  if  he  ever  got  over 
in  my  yard  again  I  would  fill  him  with  buck-shot. 

He  should  eat  no  more  of  my  meat  and  bread,  and  sleep 
under  my  house  no  longer. 

He  said -• 


568  In  Bad  Company, 

Nor  sit  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful. 

A  man  that  could  sit  in  the  presence  of  the  scoffer  at  the 
God  that  made  him,  and  scoff  and  stand  there  or  sit  there, 
and  see  Bob  IngersoU  chip  these  words  off  his  mother's 
tombstone: 

I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life. 

To  see  Bob  IngersoU  as  l^e  demolishes  the  forces  and  pow- 
ers of  Christianity^,  so  far  as  he  is  able  to  do  it !  Thank  God, 
I  never  had  a  man  closer  than  a  forty-fifth  cousin  of  mine 
that  ever  had  that  sort  of  idea  of  life  that  would  force  him. 
to  go  and  pay  a  dollar  to  sit  down  and  hear  the  like  of  that. 

WHERE  BOB  IS  UNLIKE  PREACHERS. 

I  would  not  be  that  sort  of  an  infidel  Bob  is  for  a  thousand 
dollars  a  night.  You  say  you  decide  you  won't  pay  old  Bob 
IngersoU  for  that,  and  he  is  done.  Do  you  hear  that  ?  It  is 
so  much  a  head.  Bob  can  make  $500  a  night  lecturing  that 
there  is  no  God,  but  if  you  will  put  him  on  the  other  side 
and  let  him  lecture  that  there  isa  God^  he  couldn't  make  $10 
a  night  to  save  his  life  ;  so  you  see  there  is  just  $490  differ- 
ence in  the  proposition.  And  all  Bob  is  after  is  the  dollar. 
I  know  that  by  the  way  he  treated  your  Infidel  Convention. 
It  is  said  he  was  to  lecture  and  give  them  the  profits,  but 
gave  them  the  lecture  and  he  took  the  profits. 
Nor  sit  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful. 

A  man  never  gets  over  the  fact  that  he  has  taken  such  an 
attitude  toward  God. 

But  his  delight  is  in  the  law  of  the  Lord. 

I  tell  you,  brother,  when  you  get  to  where  you  like  this 
book  [the  Bible]  and  read  this  book,  jovi  are  laying  a  good 
foundation  for  yourself.  Young  boys,  let  your  delight  be  in 
the  law  of  the  Lord. 

I  never  think  of  what  this  Bible  is  to  a  man  but  what  I 
think  of  a  little  boy.  He  was  the  good  boy  in  the  town,  and 
all  the  boys  recognized  him  as  a  good,  upright  boy,  and 
they  set  their  traps  to  get  him  drunk.  They  sent  one  of  the 
shrewdest  of  the  bad  boys  to  him,  and  he  met  him  on  the 
street,  and  he  says:  ''Johnny,  come  into  the  grocery  and  let 
us  have  a  mint  julep."  Johnny  says:  "Oh,  no,  I  can't  go 
in  there."     "  Well,  why  ?"  "  Well,  my  book  says,  '  Look  not 


In  Bad  Company.  -^^^ 

nponthe  wine  when  it  is  red/  much  less  drink  it.''  The  bad  boy- 
says,  "  I  know  the  book  says  that,  but  come  in  and  take  one 
drink."  He  says, ''  I  can't  do  that.''  "  Well,  why  V  ''  Be- 
cause my  book  says,  'At  last  it  biteth  like  an  adder  and 
stingeth  like  a  serpent.'  "  ''Yes,  I  know  the  Bible  says  that, 
but  come  in  and  take  one  drink."  "  No,"  he  says,  "My  Bi- 
ble says:  'When  a  sinner  entices  thee,  consent  thou  not.'" 
And  the  bad  boy  turned  oifand  left  him  and  went  over  to  his 
companions,  and  they  said  :  "Did  you  see  him?"  "Yes." 
"  Did  you  get  him  to  drink  ?"  "  No,  I  couldn't  get  him  into 
the  grocery."  "  Well,  why  ?"  He  says  :  "  That  boy  wasjust 
as  chuck-full  of  the  Bible  as  he  could  be,  and  I  couldn't  do 
anything  with  him."  Ah,  brother  : 
But  bis  delight  is  in  the  law  of  the  Lord. 

Now,  my  congregation,  let  me  say  to  you  in  conclusion, 
however  poor  the  discussion  may  have  been,  let  me  say  to 
you  that  a  germ  of  happiness  may  spring  up  and  become  a 
tree  under  which  you  can  sit  beneath  its  shade  and  eat  its 
fruit. 

Listen  to  this  text.  These  two  verses  find  and  furnish  the 
secret  of  a  happy  life  to  you. 

Then  I  beg  of  you  don't  walk  in  the  counsel  of  the  un- 
godly. 

Don't  stand  in  the  way  of  sinners. 

Don't  sit  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful,  but  take  the  book  of 
God  and  make  it  the  man  of  your  counsel. 

Give  yourself  to  the  right  and  live  and  die  for  God. 


:am  Iones'  Iayings. 


You  take  a  first-class  Christian  and  lay  him  down  there, 
and  then,  brother,  you  lie  down  beside  him  and  see  how 
you  look.  You  would  look  like  a  rat  terrier  lying  by  an 
elephant. 

A  beautiful  tract  of  river  land  is  so  covered  with  timber 
that  it  would  be  impossible  to  raise  a  crop  in  their  shade; 
and  where  God's  grace  and  the  desire  to  live  a  right  life  fill 
a  man's  heart,  there  can  be  no  room  for  the  devil. 

You  have  lots  of  men  who  are  neither  good  nor  bad.  Ask 
them  ifthey  are  good.  ''No,  sir."  "Bad?"  "No,  sir." 
They  are  these  goody-goody  fellows.  They  are  not  worth 
ten  cents  a  dozen  in  any  market  in  heaven,  or  earth,  or  hell. 

"I  am  waiting  until  they  will  take  a  fellow  that  is  just 
about  half-way  ready.  Thkt  is  what  I  am  waiting  for." 
Now,  if  you  are  in  earnest  about  that,  you  can  go  in.  I  donH 
think  the  Lord  will  be  hard  on  you.  There  is  a  side  door  to 
heaven,  I  have  heard,  where  idiots  and  infants  get  in,  and  I 
think  maybe  they  will  motion  you  around  to  that  side  door 
and  let  you  in  there. 

It  is  submission  to  God  that  is  religion.  It  is  walking  up 
and  stacking  your  old  gun  right  at  the  foot  of  the  cross, 
taking  off  your  cartridge-box  and  up  with  your  hands. 
"Good  Lord,  I'm  a  surrendered  rebel,  right  here.  Til  die 
before  I'll  ever  cock  that  old  musket,  and  I'll  never  take  up 
that  old  cartridge-box  again.  I've  fired  my  last  shot  on  the 
devil's  side,  and  now.  Lord,  I'm  a  surrendered  rebel." 

A  man  that  will  sit  down  to  his  table  before  his  children 
and  eat,  without  returning  thanks  to  the  Good  Provider  of 
all  things — that  fellow  is  eleven-tenths  hog. 

"I  don't  know  whether  I  am  orthodox  or  not ;  but  you 
preachers  can   attend  to  the  orthodoxy  after  I  am  gone, 
570 


Sam  Jones*  Sayings.  571 

You  will  see  these  preachers  in  their  pulpits  next  Sunday 
with  mud  on  their  horns.  They  will  show  you  what  ortho- 
doxy is,  and  clean  you  up  too. 

My  typical  idea  of  a  circus  crowd  is  a  sot,  a  one-eyed  nig- 
ger and  a  dog.  I  think  that  is  a  pretty  good  circus  crowd, 
and  if  I  was  a  sot,  or  a  one-eyed  darkey,  or  a  dog,  I  would 
go  to  a  circus;  but  I  never  will  go  to  one  until  I  get  to  be 
one  of  those  things. 

When  your  little  cup  is  full,  you  can  just  rack  out. 

It  is  absolutely  impossible  for  a  man  to  practice  success- 
fully a  fraud  upon  his  immortality.  If  you  are  a  good  man, 
you  know  it ;  if  you  are  a  bad  man,  you  know  it.  God  breaks 
the  silence  of  eternity  to  bring  you  face  to  face  with  what 
you  are,  who  you  are,  and  whither  you  are  going. 

You  can  run  Mormonism  with  Joe  Smith  and  Brigham 
Young  in  their  graves ;  it  goes  right  on.  You  can  run  Confu- 
cianism without  Confucius.  But  you  canH  run  Christianity 
without  Christ. 

There  are  men  in  this  town,  and  I  expect  some  men  in 
this  house,  that,  if  God  were  to  check  on  you  to-day  for 
$100  or  $1,000  for  some  good  cause,  you  would  let  that  check 
go  to  protest,  and  swear  you  didn't  have  the  money.  And 
yet  if  you  could  go  down  here  on  a  certain  corner  and 
buy  a  piece  of  property  at  thirty-three  per  cent,  discount, 
you  would  give  a  cash  check  for  every  dollar  of  it.  And 
God  keeps  books,  and  he'll  put  your  sort  in  hell  by-and-by 
for  lying,  if  you  never  do  anything  else  wrong. 

Sow  whisky,  reap  drunkards.  Fill  a  town  with  bar- 
rooms, make  a  generation  of  drunkards,  whose  children  are 
born  drunkards,  and  thus  the  world  is  swept  on  and  down. 

Don't  trouble  about  those  things.  Trust  to  God  and  do 
right,  and  don't  bother  about  anything  you  cannot  help.  In 
daytime  put  in  your  best  licks,  and  at  night  sleep  soundly 
like  you  had  pillowed  your  head  on  the  bosom  of  the  God 
that  made  you. 

Eed  liquor  and  Christianity  won't  stay  in  the  same  hide. 
As  one  comes  in,  the  other  goes  out. 

Stand  and  fight,  and  fight,  and  when  you  go  down  and 
think  you  are  alone,  I  tell  you  that  when  the  din  and  smoke 
of  the  battle  have  blown  away  and  you  open  your  eyes,  you 


572  Sam  Jones^  Sayings. 

will  find  God  and  the  angels  and  good  men  standing  around 
you. 

Do  not  let  a  bar-keeper  that  has  not  got  more  than  three 
gallons  of  whisky,  and  that  bought  on  credit,  come  out  on 
the  square  on  election  day  with  an  old,  rusty  pistol  in  his 
hand  that  hasn't  been  loaded  since  the  war,  and  curse  two 
or  three  times  and  talk  loud,  and  run  every  member  of  the 
Church  out  of  town.  God  have  mercy  on  you  pusillanimous 
wretches.  Hold  your  ground,  and  tell  them  that  if  they  can 
die  for  their  infernal  traffic  you  can  die  for  those  precious 
children. 

A  fellow  says  :  ^'  I  sought  religion  a  whole  month,  and  I 
never  got  it.^'  You  got  something  else.  That  is  what  satis- 
fied you. 

You  say  you  have  doubts.  ]^o  wonder.  Now  if  you  will  pull 
up  one  of  your  doubts  by  the  roots,  you  will  find  something 
at  the  tap-root,  and  the  name  of  that  something  is  sin. 

I  expect  a  great  many  professing  Christians  in  this  town 
will  be  astonished  when  they  get  to  heaven  to  find  how  God 
Almighty  can  run  the  Celestial  City  without  a  few  saloons 
to  keep  up  the  taxes. 

A  great  many  people  think  that  Christianity  is  just  a  lit- 
tle hot-bed  of  effeminacy — fellows  crying,  ''Peace!  peace! 
peace!''  God  says,  first  pure,  then  peaceable;  and  if  you 
can  have  peace  only  at  the  expense  of  purity,  you  had  better 
be  in  a  war. 

We'll  never  take  this  town  for  Christ,  and  you  down  town 
at  your  business  every  hour  of  the  day,  and  when  night 
comes,  pin  on  the  pinions  of  an  old  owl,  and  flap  out  and 
come  to  meeting. 

All  the  money  I  have  got  in  the  universe  is  in  the  bank 
of  heaven,  and  if  it  don't  break  I  am  a  millionaire. 

But  can  you  defy  the  court  of  God  that  sits  upon  the  throne? 
Shall  I  rush  up  in  the  presence  of  the  great  God,  who  in  the 
beginning  held  a  great  flaming  mass  on  the  anvil  of  eternal 
purpose,  and  pounded  it  with  his  own  powerful  arm,  and 
every  spark  that  flew  from  it  made  a  world  ? 

Christ  dug  down  the  mountains  and  filled  up  the  val- 
leys, and  the  way  to  heaven  is  a  dead  level,  and  the  way  to 
hell  is  a  dead  level,  and  there  is  only  one  road  in  the  moral 


Sam  Jones'  Sayings.  573 

universe;  and  one  end  of  that  road  is  hell  and  the  other  end 
of  the  road  is  heaven;  and  it  don't  matter  who  you  are,  but 
which  way  are  you  going  ? 

Sacrifice  !  Fourteen  years  ago  I  emptied  a  whole  lot  of 
dirt  out  of  my  pockets  and  God  filled  them  up  with  dia- 
monds; and  shall  I  go  around  here  saying:"  I  had  to  give 
away  a  whole  lot  of  dirt  to  get  a  pocket-fall  of  diamonds/' 

It  is  not  polite  to  believe  in  hell  and  many  a  little  fellow 
has  scratched  that  out  of  his  creed;  but  he  won't  be  in  hell 
more  than  fifteen  minutes  before  he  will  revise  his  creed  and 
have  nothing  in  it  but  hell;  he  will  scratch  out  all  the  rest. 

I  use  sometimes  strong  words,  but  I  will  tell  you,  you 
may  know  I  am  trying  to  reach  the  case.  Don't  you  get 
excited  now  and  think  things  are  going  to  pieces.  I  tell  you 
that  you  may  save  your  feelings  and  your  condignity  for 
other  occasions.  I  am  just  touching  along  in  high  places 
this  morning.     I  haven't  got  anywhere  yet. 

Why  will  you? — not  why  will  the  church;  not  why  will 
the  preachers;  not  why  will  the  cities;  not  why  will  the 
State;  but  why  will  you,  you,  you.  I  don't  mean  the  man 
in  front  of  you  or  that  one  behind  you,  nor  the  one  to  your 
right  or  your  left.  I  mean  you!  you!  Why  will  you  con- 
tinue in  sin  ? 

How  can  you  reform  any  State  in  God  Almighty's  world 
with  an  old  swill-tub  for  a  Governor  and  two  or  three  old 
mash-tubs  for  Supreme  Judges.  A  man  who  is  privately 
corrupt  can  never  be  politically  pure. 

If  any  man  doesn't  like  what  I  say,  let  him  come  to  me 
after  the  meeting  and  say  so,  and  I  will — forgive  him. 

There's  many  a  fellow  praying  for  a  shower  of  grace  in 
this  country;  and  all  your  tubs  with  every  hoop  loose,  and 
turned  bottom  side  up;  and  it  might  rain  grace  a  thousand 
years,  and  you'd  never  catch  anything.  God  himself  can't 
fill  a  tub  that  is  bottom  side  up,  unless  he  reverses  gravity. 

I  want  you  all  to  have  legacies  and  live  in  fine  houses,  and 
I  will  go  around  and  take  dinner  with  you,  and  let  you  pay 
the  taxes  and  servants,  and  I  will  enjoy  the  thing. 

I  propose,  God  being  my  helper,  to  speak  of  the  truth  as 
I  see  it,  and  I  don't  care  what  man,  or  devil,  or  cities,  or 


574  Sci'ni  Jones*  Sayings. 

eartR,  or  hell  may  say;  I  am  going  to  preach,  while  I  do 
preach,  what  I  believe  to  be  the  truth. 

God  Almighty  tells  every  preacher,  ''I  put  you  beside  the 
death-bed  of  this  world,  and  give  you  the  prescription.  Now 
give  it  to  the  patient."  And  we,  as  preachers,  are  dividing 
up  the  doses ;  and  we  say,  ''It  would  kill  the  poor  fellow  to 
give  it  to  him.''  Well,  God  bless  us,  let's  kill  him.  I'm  no 
homeopath  when  it  comes  to  morals. 

If  you  will  let  me,  I  will  cut  the  last  ligament  that  binds 
you  to  a  life  of  sin,  and  let  you  swim  out  into  the  bottomless, 
boundless  ocean  of  God's  saving  love. 

Now,  I  have  said  a  great  many  hard  things,  so  called  ;  and 
a  great  many  of  those  things  have  been  applied.  I  don't 
apply  things.  I  run  a  sort  of  wholesale  shoe  establishment, 
and  juct  make  shoes  for  the  public;  and  every  man  puts  on 
those  that  fit  him,  you  know.  That's  my  line.  I'm  never 
personal. 

He  who  sweats  and  toils  and  suffers  for  Christ  shall  have 
flagons  of  joy  and  rivers  of  pleasure  for  every  tear  and 
pang  he  has  ever  had. 

The  Lord  knows  I  would  rather  have  fifty  old  maids  on 
my  hands  than  have  a  son-in-law  like  some  of  you  have  got. 

And  I  say  to  you  in  all  love  and  kindness,  I  don't  want 
anybody  to  indorse  me,  but  want  every  Christian  in  this 
town  to  co-operate  with  me.  You  do  the  co-operating,  and 
God  will  do  the  endorsing,  and  then  I  will  be  elected  by  a 
large  majority. 

Take  one  of  those  old  demijohn  fellows  and  carry  him  to 
heaven  as  he  is.  When  he  would  awake  next  morning  the 
first  thing  he  would  want  would  be  a  drink,  and  if  there  was 
a  low  place  in  the  fence  he  would  jump  over  it,  repair  to  the 
nearest  bar-room,  and  be  back  again  before  breakfast. 

The  devil  is  too  much  of  a  gentleman  to  stay  where  he  is 
not  welcome.     Why  does  he  stay  in  your  heart  ? 

If  you  see  my  style  don't  exactly  suit  5^ou,  and  the  gram- 
mar and  rhetoric  and  logic  are  a  little  butchered,  why,  I  am 
just  endeavoring  to  adapt  my  style  to  my  crowd ;  don't  for- 
get that,  and  I'll  find  your  level  before  I  leave  you. 

I  despise  theology  and  botany,  but  I  love  religion  and 
flowers. 


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